Ian David Long, 28, is the gunman who killed 11 at the Borderline Bar and Grill in California on Wednesday
The ex-Marine who slaughtered 12 people at a country music bar in California on Wednesday was updating his Instagram story throughout the massacre, it has been claimed.
Ian Long, 28, filmed himself as he opened fire on Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, holding his Glock .45 in one hand and his cell phone in the other, according to police sources cited by TMZ.
The footage was found on his Instagram story after he killed himself before SWAT teams entered the building and has since been wiped from the internet along with his Instagram and Facebook account.
On Facebook, he posted a chilling final message about gun control and how ‘prayers and tears’ were not enough to stop atrocities such as the one he committed.
His ominous social media presence has begun to emerge along with details of his life before he joined the Marines in 2008.
According to former friends and classmates, Long was bullied in high school for his lazy eye and could not take jokes well.
He hoped to be a professional baseball player but was not talented enough and did not have a good rapport with other members of the varsity team.
The Marines, that was his goal. He loved America and he loved guns
One friend said he was ‘cocky’ and was ‘one of those bros who drove a huge car to high school.’
The friend, Rebekah Homokay, told The Wall Street Journal that he set his sights on the Marines because he ‘loved America and loved guns.’
His Facebook post read: ‘I hope people call me insane… (laughing emojis).. wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony?
‘Yeah.. I’m insane, but the only thing you people do after these shootings is ‘hopes and prayers’.. or ‘keep you in my thoughts’… every time… and wonder why these keep happening…’
Long is pictured in Instagram footage that one of the survivors filmed while he opened fire on the dark bar and grill. When the first shots were fired, the DJ cut the music and everyone on the busy dance floor scrambled
The remarkable post, which uses language common to gun control advocates, could not be independently confirmed by DailyMail.com.
Long, a Marine combat veteran who investigators said may have had PTSD, was a regular at the bar where the shooting occurred, several of his friends said.
He likely would have been aware that the country music bar was a regular gathering spot for survivors of the Las Vegas massacre last year, in which 58 were killed at a country music festival.
Survivors from the Thousand Oaks area regularly gathered at Borderline for mutual support, and considered the bar a ‘safe haven’ after the terrifying shooting in Las Vegas.
Several Las Vegas survivors were present when Long stormed the bar, and one of them, 27-year-old Telemachus Orfanos, was killed.
Long’s page has been deleted. In a chilling final post written immediately before he launched the attack, he spoke of gun control and how ‘hopes and prayers’ are not enough. His page is pictured before it was taken down
Gunman Long (left and right) was a machine gunner in the Marines Corps and served until 2013 when he was given honorable discharge. He was deployed once to Afghanistan and received 10, standard-issue medals during his service
In his junior year of high school, Long wrote ‘death’ in the section of his year book page (above) for his goals after baseball
Long’s mother took out this ad in his high school yearbook, quoting the children’s book Love You Forever. He was living with her when he committed the shooting and police were called to the residence after a furious dispute between the two in April
Survivors of the Las Vegas shooting held a Route 91 Harvest banner at Borderline earlier this year where they often gathered and developed a ‘family-like’ bond. One of the people killed Wednesday was a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting
Mourners cry and comfort each other during a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Thursday in Thousand Oaks, California. Twelve people including a Ventura County Sheriff sergeant died
Victim Noel Sparks’ final Snapchat message shows the scene inside the Borderline Bar moments before the shooting
Many of the dead had no connection to the prior shooting, though, so it is unclear whether Long targeted the bar specifically because of its connection to the massacre in Las Vegas.
Other victims killed inside the bar included: Sean Adler, 48; Cody Coffman 22; Blake Dingman, 23; Jake Dunham, 21; Alaina Housley, 18; Justin Meek, 23; Daniel Manrique; Kristina Morisette; and Noel Sparks.
Long then shot sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus, a 54-year-old, 29-year veteran who was one of the first on the scene. He died in the hospital of multiple gunshot wounds.
Between 10 and 15 people remain in hospital, some with severe injuries. The mayor has appealed for blood donations, and hundreds responded by turning out to donate.
Survivors used bar stools to smash windows to climb out of and some hid beneath pool tables. One woman ran into the kitchen and was told by staff to climb a ladder into the attic.
According to survivors, Long was dressed in all-black, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a mask covering the bottom part of his face.
Before SWAT teams entered the building, Long took his own life in an office inside.
He used a legally purchased .45 caliber handgun to carry out the attack and had modified its magazine so it could hold more rounds.
A shirtless man and two others carry an injured person out of the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, on Wednesday night after Long opened fire at 11.20pm
A bullet hole is seen in the window of the Borderline Bar after a shooter killed 11 inside the country music venue
People kneel around lit candles during a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of a shooting in Thousand Oaks, California
People gather to pray for the victims of the mass shooting during a candlelight vigil in Thousand Oaks on Thursday
People mourn those lost during a shooting in Thousand Oaks during a vigil at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Meanwhile, other disturbing incidents from Long’s past indicate that his mental troubles may have predated his combat service in Afghanistan.
Julie Hanson, who lives next door to Long’s ranch-style home, described him as ‘odd’ and ‘disrespectful’ well before he left home a decade ago, got married and enlisted in the Marines, becoming a machine gunner.
On Long’s high school yearbook page, under the section for goals after baseball, he simply responded ‘death’.
‘We had kids messing around, saying jokey stuff, but this definitely looks disturbing now. It’s unbelievable,’ Matt Goldfield, who was one of the team coaches that year, told the New York Daily News.
Goldfield and fellow coach Scott Drootin remembered Long as an ‘socially awkward’ kid with ‘sad eyes’ who quit baseball his junior year after striking the final out of a playoff game that dashed his team’s hopes for a championship.
Long enlisted in the Marines at 18 and was married as a 19-year-old in Honolulu in June 2009, according to military and court records.
His military service lasted nearly five years, and he was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal in 2013, the Pentagon said. He was part of the infantry, responsible for hauling and shooting machine guns.
During his service, Long’s marriage fell apart. He and his wife separated in June 2011, while he was deployed on a seven-month tour in Afghanistan.
The couple cited irreconcilable differences in divorce papers filed in May 2013, two months after Long left the Marines.
Long is seen during his military service. He was in the Marines from 2008 to 2013 and served in Afghanistan
After leaving the Marines, Long returned to California. The gunman is pictured in a 2014 picture with his mother (left) and (right) while studying at California State University Northridge where he last attended classes in 2016. He dropped out of his athletic training major in 2016 after three years
Curtis Kellog, a friend who he served with, said Long had a ‘great sense of humor’ and was excited to return to southern California after leaving the military.
‘He had a great sense of humor and like most Marines who have seen combat it could get dark at times, just like all of us.
‘He was excited to get out so he could go back home, ride his motorcycle again and finish school,’ he told Click 2 Houston.
Later, he enrolled at nearby California State University, Northridge, dropping out in 2016, the school said in a statement.
‘I found out a little too late that just wasn’t the job for me. Maybe the ego got the better of me but it took only one time for a 19 year old D-2 athlete to talk down to me and tell me how to do my job that I realized this wasn’t the career I wanted to head,’ he said of his departure in a March 2017 post that was uncovered by CNN on the forum Shadowspear.
Police are seen outside Ian David Long’s home in Newbury Park, near Thousand Oaks, on Thursday morning. His mother’s red truck was parked in the driveway beneath an American flag draped from the garage. Their home is 5.5miles from the bar where the attack took place
Coleen Long (right), mother of Thousand Oaks shooter Ian Long, is seen leaving her house in Newbury Park, California
Colleen Long (white hat) is seen leaving her home. She was spotted speaking with FBI agents on Thursday
FBI agents collect evidence at the home of suspected nightclub shooter Ian David Long, in Thousand Oaks, California
Blake Winnett, who claims to have shared an apartment with Long in 2014 while he was a student at CSUN, told The New York Post that he was a ‘loner’ who danced alone in their garage.
‘He didn’t want to help anyone do anything. He was just lazy I guess,’ he claimed, adding that he once responded:
‘That’s not my f****** job’ when Winnett asked him to take out the trash.
‘He wasn’t violent but he was mean. He would go to the gym and then he would, I guess, try to learn dance moves or something. ‘He would close the garage and be playing music and dancing in there, like sweating.
‘I would open the garage and would be like, ‘What are you doing?” he said.
More recently, Long was living in his mother’s home, where neighbors said they could hear frequent, aggressive shouting between the two, especially over the last year.
About 18 months ago, Don and Effie MacLeod heard ‘an awful argument’ and what he believes was a gunshot from the Longs’ property. Don MacLeod said he did not call police but avoided speaking with Ian Long.
‘I told my wife, ‘Just be polite to him. If he talks, just acknowledge him, don’t go into conversation with him,” Don MacLeod said Thursday.
Jordan Hopkins places his hand on the photo of Sean Adler during a vigil at the Rivalry Roasters coffee shop Thursday
A picture of victim Noel Sparks is seen during a candlelight vigil in Thousand Oaks, California on Thursday
Sparse pictures on social media showed a happy Long family. His mother, Colleen, posted Facebook photos of her son in his military uniform in 2010 and 2011.
‘My Son is home, well sort of, back in Hawaii, soon to be in Cali come January, hooray!’ she wrote on Dec. 14, 2012.
Another photo from 2014 shows Ian Long with his arm draped around his mother in front of Dodger Stadium. The two were wearing Dodgers T-shirts and smiles.
But about six months ago, a next-door neighbor said he called authorities a when he heard loud banging and shouting at Long’s home.
‘I was concerned because I knew he had been in the military,’ neighbor Tom Hanson said Thursday, as federal and local law enforcement officers searched Long’s house, where an American flag flew over the garage.
Hanson described Long as an introvert and said he was ‘dumbfounded’ by the massacre.
Long’s only other contact with authorities came after a traffic collision and after he alleged he was the victim of a violent encounter in 2015 at another bar in Thousand Oaks, the sheriff said.
Family members are saluted by law enforcement officers after the hearse carrying the body of Sergeant Ron Helus arrived at the medical examiner’s office in Ventura, California on Thursday
Law enforcement officer march as the hearse carrying the body of Sergeant Ron Helus leaves Los Robles Hospital
A procession for the body of Sergeant Ron Helus, who died in a shooting incident at a Thousand Oaks bar, drives down Ventura HIghway 101 in Thousand Oaks, California on Thursday
Authorities haven’t identified what motivated Long to open fire during college night at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, around 40 miles (64 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles. The city of about 130,000 people is consistently near the top of lists ranking the safest places in California.
The dead included 11 people inside the bar and a veteran sheriff’s sergeant who was the first officer through the door.
The Marine Corps said Long earned several awards, including a Combat Action Ribbon and a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Long’s mother Colleenn Long, 61, was spotted by DailyMail.com being interviewed by FBI agents on Thursday.
She emerged from her house around 1.45pm and was shepherded into another red truck resembling the one the shooter used to drive to the Borderline Bar & Grill where he carried out the massacre. She and several officers left the house in the smart suburb of Newbury Park in a convoy of three trucks.
In addition to the 11 Long killed inside the Borderline Bar and Grill on Wednesday, ’10 to 15′ victims were injured.
A verified GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover their medical bills. They have raised $27,000 of the $50,000 they hope to get.
Victims killed in Borderline Bar shooting in California
Cody Coffman
Cody Coffman’s father Jason confirmed his 22-year-old son was among the 11 dead victims.
The distraught father rushed to the bar after hearing news of the shooting and calls to his son’s cellphone went unanswered. Jason used a tracking app on his son’s phone and it indicated the device was still inside the venue.
He said he spoke to his son just before he went to the bar Wednesday night.
‘The first thing I said was ‘Please don’t drink and drive.’ The last thing I said was ‘Son, I love you’,’ he said.
Cody had plans to go into the military and was speaking with U.S. Army recruiters.
Cody Coffman
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus
Ventura County Sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus, 54, was first on the scene of the shooting on Wednesday night.
Ventura County Sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus
Helus was shot multiple times as he and a California Highway Patrol officer exchanged fire with the gunman inside the bar.
He was a 29-year veteran of the department. He was speaking to his wife Karen when he received the call about a mass shooting.
The last thing he said to her was: ‘Hon, I got to go, I love you. I gotta go on a call’.
Alaina Housley
Alaina, the niece of actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley, also died in the shooting.
Her suitemate at Pepperdine University had earlier posted photos on Twitter saying that the freshman was missing.
Alaina’s Apple Watch and iPhone appeared to still show her location as inside the bar. She was at the bar with several friends who have all been accounted for.
‘My heart breaks. I’m still in disbelief,’ Mowry-Housley wrote in a tribute to her niece on Instagram.
‘It’s not fair how you were taken and how soon you were taken from us. I was blessed to know you ever since you were 5. You stole my heart. I will miss our inside jokes, us serenading at the piano.
‘Thank you for being patient with me learning how to braid your hair, and I will never forget our duet singing the national anthem at Napa’s soccer game.
‘I love you. I love you. I love you. You are gonna make one gorgeous angel.’
Alaina Housley
Justin Meek
Justin Meek was identified as one of the slain victims by his family and his former college.
The 23-year-old, who was a recent graduate of California Lutheran University, worked at the Borderline Bar and organized the college night event.
Meek is believed to have heroically saved lives as the shooting unfolded, according to university president Chris Kimball.
During college, he worked in the school’s veteran resource office and often worked with the Veterans Club to plan events and help veteran students.
Meek also loved singing in choir and took part in the school’s Kingsmen Quartet.
He planned to join the US Coast Guard.
‘Justin was a criminal justice and criminology major who had a passion for doing what was right,’ Jenn Zimmerman, Cal Lutheran’s veterans coordinator, said in a statement.
‘I’m not shocked he took action to protect the people at Borderline.’
Justin Meek
Sean Adler
Sean Adler, 48, was working as a bouncer at the Borderline Bar & Grill when he was killed.
He was a wrestling coach who had only recently opened a coffee shop in the local area.
Justin Meek (left) and Sean Adler (right)
Noel Sparks
Noel Sparks, a 21-year-old student at Moorpark College, was also confirmed dead. The United Methodist Church in Westlake Village, of which she was a member, posted condolences to her parents on Facebook.
Sparks’ friends had been in tears throughout the day as they desperately searched for her in the aftermath of the shooting.
Blake Dingman
Blake Dingman, 21, was identified by his girlfriend as a victim of the mass shooting.
‘My sweet Blake… my heart is hurting more than words can say. I cannot believe you’re gone. I am so grateful for our little infinity and all of our deep talks, cuddles, late nights, and adventures,’ she wrote in a tribute.
‘I am so incredibly grateful for every moment we spent together. God brought us together for a reason and I will hold our memories in my heart forever. I love you with all of my heart my sweet boy and my angel.’
Noel Sparks (left) and Blake Dinghma (right)
Telemachus Orfanos
Borderline employee Telemachus Orfanos was also among those confirmed dead.
Orfanos was an Eagle Scout who served in the Navy. Friends said that he was a survivor of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting massacre in Las Vegas last year, in which 58 died.
Survivors of the Las Vegas shooting regularly gathered in the Borderline bar for country music night as a way of offering mutual support and healing.
Orfanos’ social media indicates he attended the local Thousand Oaks High School and Moorepark College.
Telemachus Orfanos
Kristina Kaylee Morisette
Morisette worked as the cashier at Borderline Bar and Grill. Family members confirmed that she died in the shooting.
She attended Simi Valley High School.
Kristina Kaylee Morisette
Daniel Manrique
Manrique, 33, was a Marine veteran.
‘He had spent his entire adult life, post military service, helping veterans readjust to civilian life and had just recently accepted a position with Team RWB as the Pacific Regional Program Manager,’ family member Gladys Manrique Koscak wrote in a tribute on Facebook.
‘I have no doubt that he died a hero, shielding others from gunshots. He will forever be our hero, son, brother, and the best uncle anybody could ever ask for,’ she said.
Daniel Manrique