A new report by the Los Angeles Times follows the 12 victims who were killed during the November mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, revealing that many of them died trying to save others. Two of the victims, Telemachus Orfanos and Justin Meek, took a photo with nine other friends just minutes before 28-year-old gunman Ian Long entered their favorite bar. Orfanos, a survivor of the Las Vegas mass shooting and an employee at Borderline, helped friends exit the bar when the shooting began, then went back inside to help more people. He was shot multiple times and stabbed in the neck, his wounds suggesting that he’d attempted to attack Long before his death. Meek, who was fatally shot in the chest, shielded others in the bar from Long’s bullets, and police later told his family he died a hero, according to the newspaper.
Brendan Kelly, who was also a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting and Orfanos’ friend, was line dancing alone when he heard the gunshots. He pulled several women from the floor and shielded one with his body as he saw Long heading toward them. “Go, go, go, move, move, move!” Kelly screamed to people while pushing them to a nearby exit. Kelly, who had been recently trained as an emergency medical technician, carried a man whose kneecap had been shattered during the escape. Using his belt as a tourniquet, Kelly secured another friend’s arm that had been sliced from a broken window and safely hid multiple people behind a sedan outside.
Read it at LA Times
