Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has begun to get names of the victims of the December 2, 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. This posting will be updated as new information on victims is released.
The victims killed included: Tin Nguyen, 31; Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42; Nicholas Thalasinos, 52; Juan Espinoza, 50; Shannon Johnson, 45; Bennetta Bet-Badal, 46; Aurora Godoy, 26; Isaac Amanios, 60; Harry Bowman, 46; Yvette Velasco, 27; Sierra Clayborn, 27; Robert Adams, 40; Damian Meins, 58; Michael Wetzel, 37.
American Victims Killed in San Bernardino Terrorist Attack – December 2, 2015
Tin Nguyen
Tin Nguyen – a 31 year old Vietnamese-born woman from Santa Ana who was a food inspector. She stopped by the Christmas party. She was planning to be married in 2017.
Larry Daniel Kaufman
Larry Daniel Kaufman – a 42 year old man who ran the center’s coffee shop and trained the developmentally disabled clients who worked with him, and who proudly wore rainbow earrings for gay pride.
Nicholas Thalasinos
Nicholas Thalasinos – a 52 year old man restaurant inspector, who was a Messianic Jew. He was a scholar and religious. He was defiant to extremist views, including ISIS. He received a death threat the day before he was murdered, and reported had a heated debate with Syed Farook two weeks before the attack, as reported in another posting.
Juan Espinoza
Juan Espinoza – a 50 year old man from Highland, who worked as an inspector for the county health department. Juan Espinoza is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. Another report describes Juan C. Espinoza as the director of Riverside County Transportation & Land Management Agency.
Shannon Johnson – a 45 year old man from Los Angeles, he worked as an environmental health specialist with San Bernardino County’s public health department for nearly 11 years, according to his LinkedIn page. Johnson said he was in charge of food safety, recreational health and housing.
Bennetta Bet-Badal
Bennetta Bet-Badal – a 46 year old woman from Rialto; she worked as an inspector for the San Bernardino County Health Department. Bennetta Bet-badal was born in Iran in 1969, and fled to the United States when she was 18 to escape the persecution of Christians following the Iranian Revolution. She settled in California and married Arlen Verdehyou, a police officer, and they had three children. Her friends created a “Benneta Betbadal Memorial Fund.”
Aurora Godoy
Aurora Godoy – a 26 year old from San Jacinto. She was a wife and mother of an infant son. Her aunt, Rebecca Godoy made a statement on Facebook: “Yesterday in the shootings in San Bernardino many families were affected. Ours was one of them. We will keep her flame alive so that her young son does not forget his special mother.” Those who cared about Aurora Godoy and her family created a GoFundMe web page to get community financial help for the family to help cover their funeral costs, and assist them in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Isaac Amanios – a 60 year old man from Fontana, was a health inspector for San Bernardino County. He leaves behind his wife, Hiwet Gebreslassie, and three adult children. He was the cousin of Nat Berhe, a Fontana native who’s a safety for the New York Giants.
Harry Bowman
Harry Bowman – a 46 year old man from Upland, who had just started on his job as a statistical analyst with San Bernardino County’s environmental health services on September 19, 2015. He had two teenage daughters. He was a native of York, Pennsylvania. He had just received a Christmas present from his mother, which sat on the doorstep. He never made it home.
Yvette Velasco
Yvette Velasco – a 27 year old woman from Fontana, who was a an environmental health specialist for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. Her family released a statement: “Yvette was an intelligent, motivated, and beautiful young woman, who was full of life and loved by all who knew her. We are devastated about what happened, and are still processing this nightmare. We ask that you please respect our family’s privacy in order to grieve our loss. Yvette is survived by her parents, Robert and Marie Velasco, and her three sisters, Adriana, Erica, and Genevieve. Please pray for our family and the other families who have lost a loved one as a result of this terrible tragedy.”
Sierra Clayborn
Sierra Clayborn – a 27 year old woman from Moreno Valley, who worked as an environmental health specialist for San Bernardino County. She was a graduate of University of California, Riverside. Like many others around the world, Sierra Clayborn added the French flag to her Facebook profile soon after the terrorist attack in Paris on November 13. How could she know that she too would be a victim just barely over two weeks later?
Sierra Clayborn Defiantly Stood for Human Rights and Dignity of Paris Terrorist Victims
Robert Adams
Robert Adams – a 40 year old man from Yucaipa, leaves behind his wife, Summer, and his daughter, Savannah. Robert Adams was an environmental health specialist for the San Bernardino County Health Department. Friends and supporters of Robert Adams created a GoFundMe web page to raise funds to help his family.
Damien Meins
Damian Meins – a 58 year old man of San Pedro, who had only been working for San Bernardino County for a short time. He previously worked for a physical education teacher at St. Catherine’s School in Riverside. Damian Meins was also an Extended Care Coordinator at St. Catherine of Alexandria School in Riverside, where he also helped kids create Christmas art projects and religious murals. Damian Meins received a Community Recognition Award for his work in Riverside, which was based on “compassion, courage, forgiveness, generosity, humility, inclusiveness, integrity, kindness, respect and service.”
Michael Wetzel
Michael Wetzel – a 37 year old man from Lake Arrowhead, who worked as the supervising environmental health specialist for San Bernardino County. He leaves behind a wife and six children. His friends created a YouCaring crowdfunding page in order to help his family, where you can also see his entire family. “So many prayers needed,” Wetzel’s wife wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon. They were an active part of the Church of the Woods in Lake Arrowhead.