Thousand Oaks

Newly Released Report Details Likely Motive in 2018 Borderline Bar Mass Shooting

A Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan attacked the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, 2018, leaving 11 patrons and a sheriff's deputy dead.

NBC Universal, Inc. A Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan attacked the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, 2018, leaving 11 patrons and a sheriff’s deputy dead. Kathy Vara reports for NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on July 1, 2021.

What to Know

  • A Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan attacked the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, 2018.
  • The attack, which left 11 patrons and a sheriff's deputy dead, was during a county music dance night attended by college students.
  • A more than 400-page report detailing a possible motive was released Wednesday.

An investigative report on a 2018 mass shooting during a Southern California bar’s “Country College Night” found the likely motive of the military veteran who carried out the attack was disdain for civilians and especially college students.

Ventura County sheriff’s detectives concluded in the more than 400-page report that Ian David Long, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, likely attacked the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, 2018, knowing of the college theme and that there would likely be many students present.

NBC Bay Area
Victims of the Borderline Bar shooting in Thousand Oaks, Nov. 7, 2018.
CSNPhilly.com
Sgt. Ronald Lee Helus was killed while responding to the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting that left 12 victims dead Nov. 7, 2018.nFamilies were frantically searching for those unaccounted for as the identities of victims emerged in the aftermath of the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting Wednesday evening in Ventura County, the deadliest mass shooting since Parkland. n
nA 29-year veteran of law enforcement pictured above who ran toward the danger when dispatched to the mass shooting, as well as a 22-year-old son awaiting the birth of his baby sister, were confirmed to have been killed in the tragedy.n
nTwelve victims in all were killed in the shooting. n
nLearn more about the victims below.n
Helus Family
The sergeant received a call from his wife before responding to the mass shooting at Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks. He told her he needed to respond to a call, and would see her later. He was killed in the mass shooting.
Ventura County Sheriff's Department
He was a 29-year law enforcement veteran. Ventura County Sheriff's Department officials said they weren't surprised to hear he ran toward the danger.
Orfanos Family
Telemachus Orfanos, a Navy veteran who survived the Route 91 massacre in Las Vegas, was killed in the mass shooting at Borderline Bar, his father told NBC4.
Daniel, a military veteran, spent his life helping veterans, as a member of Team Red White Blue. He was at Borderline meeting other members of the group. He had no wife or children. "Daniel was such a go-getter. He was absolutely loved."
Coffman Family
"Cody was the big brother that my kids need. I have a daughter coming on the 29th of this month. He was so excited to have his first sister," Jason Coffman, the father of Cody Coffman, 22, said. He announced Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, that his son was slain in the mass shooting at Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks the night before.
Courtesy of Facebook
Courtesy of Facebook
Eighteen-year-old Pepperdine freshman Alaina Housley, the niece of actress Tamera Mowry-Housley, was killed in Borderline Bar mass shooting last night, her family confirmed. Housley's uncle, former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley and the actress were pleading with the public to help find the 18-year-old before they learned of her death.
Courtesy of Facebook
Justin Meek, a 23-year-old Cal Lutheran University graduate and former San Diego resident, was slain in the Borderline Bar mass shooting Nov. 7, 2018.nn
Adler Family
Sean Adler was a husband the father of two boys. He owned a local coffee shop and was working at the Borderline Bar & Grill Nov. 7, 2018 when he was killed by a gunman along with 11 others. "From what I understand, Sean tried to disarm the guy. That is typical of Sean. He was a protector, always sticking up for people. He was a caring, compassionate individual," his sister Valarie Adler told NBC4.
Blake Dingman was slain in the Borderline Bar shooting Wednesday evening, Nov. 7, 2018.
KECI
Jake Dunham was slain in the Borderline Bar shooting Wednesday evening, Nov. 7, 2018. His father Jeff Dunham was searching for him at 2 a.m. before the news had emerged of his death.
Courtesy Sparks Family
Twenty-one-year-old Noel Sparks studied at Moorpark College. Her death was confirmed by her church, the United Methodist Church Westlake Village.
KMGH via AP
Kristina Kaylee Morisette attended Simi Valley High School, and was from Simi Valley. She loved country music. Her cousin confirmed to NBC that she was killed in the shooting.
Mark Meza Jr. was confirmed to be the twelfth victim slain in the mass shooting. He was a Santa Barbara native who was an alum of the Carpinteria Unified School District, NBC affiliate KSBY learned. He had been working at Borderline Bar the night of the shooting.

“Though we cannot say with absolute certainty that this was the suspect’s motive, this is the working theory that has been established,” the report said.

The investigative report was completed at least a year and a half ago, then submitted to the district attorney's office. When it was finally released on Wednesday, there were many redactions, including names of people interviewed by detectives.

A different after-action report released in March noted without detail that the shooter’s friends said he expressed anger and hate towards civilians, especially college students, whom he considered disrespectful of the military.

Long fired 61 rounds from a semiautomatic handgun, killing 11 patrons and striking sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus multiple times before killing himself. In the chaos, Helus was killed by a rifle round fired by a California Highway Patrol officer who also responded.

The investigators’ report said Long had attended California State University, Northridge, where a group of students learned of his military service and made disrespectful comments to him. Friends and associates of Long told detectives that some students expressed the opinion that people who join the military deserved to be shot and killed.

“The suspect began to hate individuals who felt this way,” and said he felt that they were “entitled, liberal civilians” who had no understanding of what he experienced as a machine gunner in Afghanistan, the report said.

“He began referring to them as ‘college-civilians,’ and said they should be ‘wiped off the map,’” one person told detectives.

“It is believed these types of negative encounters only triggered his anger toward civilians and individuals who, in his mind, simply had no grasp or appreciation for what war veterans have done for the United States,” the report said.

The report stated that a friend of Long said he was “very angry” while attending the university.

“He hated college-age civilians. He hated them and he would just say awful things about them, you know? And that’s why it doesn’t surprise me, what he did,” the friend said.

The report said Long visited the bar five times in less than a year before the shooting.

Copyright The Associated Press
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