Chapter 1
On the morning of November 8th, 2019, I woke up to frantic texts from friends and family. Some explained what had happened, one from my dad just said “Call me.”
The night before, the Borderline Bar and Grill was targeted in a mass shooting.
I texted any friend and acquaintance I could think of who might have been there that night. Thankfully none of them were there. But as the news kept updating and as the names of the victims were released, I didn’t know what to think. How could this be happening?
“We were coming off elections just two days prior... Dawn and I were up all night, our editor Kyle was up all night. The next morning we were working all day and finally he sent us home... Then around eleven o’ clock I guess he got a call, didn't bother to call us or wake us up or anything. We both woke up to a text that said ‘Get ready, this is going to be the biggest story of your life.’"
-Becca Whitnall, Thousand Oaks Acorn reporter
“I was a regular there for two years up until the shooting... I was invited out that night but told my friends I was too tired and that I’ll go the next day. Well, two hours later, I kept hearing constant helicopters, and since I live so close it was rattling my house. I started to wonder what was going on. Then my phone started blowing up.”
-Shannon Ashlee McGee, frequent Borderline attendee
“As the sun rose on Nov 8. 2018, the world’s eyes were on Thousand Oaks as the site of the latest U.S. mass shooting.”
This quote is a video caption from the Ventura County Star’s November 7th, 2018 article titled “Thousand Oaks shooting: 13, including officer, killed at Borderline Bar & Grill”. The shooting happened on a Wednesday, Borderline’s college night. Some of the 12 victims were local students, while others were long time residents.
“I was on the phone with a friend from home when we got the news, and he told me there was a shooting at Borderline. I figured he meant someone had fired a gun in the parking lot or something. I never imagined it would be as severe as it was. We both hung up and started texting everyone from home to see if they were okay, but nobody really knew anything for a long time. I sat up that entire night watching the news on my phone, but they just kept looping the same couple clips over and over.”
-Riley Harris, USD student and Borderline attendee
“They had had a press conference across the street that I had just missed... I catch the PIO's attention and say ‘Hey, did I miss anything new, do you have any new details?’ And he takes me across the street away from everybody and we just chat... He starts telling me about Ron [Sgt. Ron Helus]. I'm videotaping at that point and he starts crying. I had to stop. I wanted to be Becca the person, not the reporter, for him at that moment.”
-Becca Whitnall, Thousand Oaks Acorn reporter