Mom attends Country Thunder in honor of son
Justin Meek always wanted to go to Country Thunder.
He was an avid country music fan, and he loved festivals. It was where he was happiest, his sister said, and most relaxed.
Meek never made it to Country Thunder, though, and he never will.
On Nov. 7, 2018, Meek was one of 12 killed by a gunman at Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California. He was 23.
Earlier this week, his mother, Laura Lynn Meek, got in her car at her home in California, and drove. She had decided: Since he couldn’t make it to the
2019 festival, she would.
It was part for him, part for her. “This is part of my therapy,” she said.
A singer, a guitarist, a country lover
Justin Allen Meek was born on Aug. 31, 1995. He loved music, and was a singer and a guitarist. As a student at California Lutheran University, he sang in the choir and Kingsmen Quartet.
He worked at Borderline Bar and Grill as a bouncer and promoter, trying to encourage people to come to the bar. He was founding president of the CLU Line Dance Club.
“Justin did this to share his love of country line dancing and College Country Nights at Borderline with his CLU classmates,” according to a statement from his family.
Meek graduated in May 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in music.
He hoped to join the U.S. Coast Guard, and eventually become a U.S. marshal.
The Borderline mass shooting
Justin Meek was working as a promoter at Borderline Bar and Grill the night of the shooting.
His sister, Victoria Rose Meek, was at the club, too. The two were three years apart, but they were so close people called them fraternal twins.
She was on the dance floor when the shooter walked in.
When she heard the shots, she said she knew what was happening. She ran.
“I just kind of went into instinct mode,” she said. She made it out. He didn’t.
An artist drew a painting of the 12 who were killed in the shooting. The artist drew Justin in a black cowboy hat and cowboy boots, holding a guitar.
Victoria Rose Meek used to go to festivals with her brother. She said one of the last festivals they went to together was Stagecoach, a country music festival in California.
“I’ve never seen him so happy,” she said. “He was being the goofball that he was.”
In the hotel at the festival, he busted out a briefcase with supplies for drinks “like a bartender.” She still laughs talking about it.
“He just had a good time.”
Country Thunder as a healing place
Laura Lynn Meek’s boots say “Borderline Strong.” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a Koozie. “We had these made in his name,” she said.
The black Koozie has white writing on it that says “Justin Meek, Borderline Bar & Grill, Nov. 7. Hometown Hero.” It lists his birthday and says “Never Forget.”
When Meek arrived at the Country Thunder Arizona festival grounds in Florence, she met up with survivors of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival.
The Route 91 survivors met up here last year. They’ll gather again at the 2019 festival.
Standing in what Country Thunder fans call the bowl, the area in front of the main stage, Meek looked at photos and videos of her son on her phone.
There’s one of him hugging and swinging around a giant teddy bear in a store. There’s one of him doing body rolls and lip syncing in the car. There’s one of him in a suit doing a Trump impersonation.
“He was a goofy kid,” she said.
Family carries on his gun-rights beliefs
Just before she left Country Thunder on Friday, Meek stopped by the Dirty Doe Clothing stand.
The company, owned by Matt and Sandie Hammon of Glendale and Aaron Bolvin, sells a variety of gunrights shirts.
Meek picked the one that says “Second Amendment, Old No. 2, American Bill of Rights.”
She said that her son was a supporter of gun rights, and she and her daughter are, too.
She said that she wants to move out of California, which she thinks already has too-strict laws.
California laws prohibit people from carrying loaded guns in public places. Laura Lynn Meek said if people were allowed to, they may have been able to defend themselves at Borderline.
Victoria Rose said being a survivor of a mass shooting only makes her support gun rights more.
“We were like sitting ducks,” she said.