Former resident injured in mass shooting
THOUSAND OAKS — The 22-year-old brother of a Calipatria woman was among those injured by gunfire during Wednesday night’s mass shooting at a Thousand Oaks bar that left 13 people dead.
Mariana Huerta, 23, said her brother, Jonathan Rodriguez, of Lancaster, sustained a gunshot wound to his arm and was expected to be discharged from the hospital sometime Thursday night.
Rodriguez had appeared emotionally distraught when Huerta and her mother visited him at the Los Robles Regional Medical Center on Thursday afternoon, but was in stable condition, she said.
“He’s really terrified right now,” she said. “He said it was like a nightmare.”
He didn’t want to leave the hospital without us there.”
Rodriguez was able to contact his mother shortly after the shooting, but was not in a condition to clearly explain what had taken place, Huerta said.
That brief conversation had only added to the panic that Huerta and her mother had felt throughout the night, until Rodriguez contacted Huerta early Thursday morning to further clarify what had happened to him, Huerta said.
“I never thought in my life that I would know anyone involved in something like that,” Huerta said.
Authorities reported that at least 22 people had been hospitalized with injuries following the shooting that left 13 dead, including the alleged gunman, 28-yearold Ian David Long, of Newbury Park.
Huerta said she and her mother had encountered a chaotic scene at the Thousand Oaks-based hospital where her brother was and had to wait about three hours before they were admitted to see him.
Rodriguez had resided briefly with Huerta in Calipatria for about a month prior to returning to his mother’s home in Lancaster about a week ago, Huerta said.
He had relocated to the Valley in an attempt to improve his situation in life after having encountered numerous challenges in the Lancaster area, Huerta said.
On Wednesday night, Rodriguez had accompanied several friends from the Ventura area to the Borderline Bar & Grill for a night of drinks. He was reportedly within close proximity to Long when he had entered the bar and started shooting at about 11 p.m., Huerta said.
No motive for the shooting had been revealed as of press time Thursday. Long reportedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Long was a Marine Corps veteran who had served in Afghanistan and who had been contacted by sheriff’s deputies who responded to a report of a disturbance at his home in April, news reports stated.
Mental health experts had reportedly met with Long, but determined he was not qualified to be taken into protective custody, according to news reports.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus was among those killed. Helus had reportedly entered the establishment shortly after the initial gunfire erupted in an attempt to engage the gunman, according to news reports.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump ordered flags to be flown at halfstaff until Saturday at sunset “as a mark of solemn respect for the victims.”