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[h=4]San Bernardino victims: Lives of hope, promise, accomplishment[/h]The dead, mostly colleagues of gunman Syed R. Farook, are remembered by their loved ones.
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Jack Prewett talks about his friend Daniel Kaufman who was killed in the mass shooting at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Video by desertsun.com The Desert Sun
Bennetta Betbadal, third from left, poses for a holiday picture with her family. She was among the 14 people fatally shot Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, Calif.(Photo: GoFundMe)
They came to attend a holiday party, some planning speeches, some bringing presents. They ranged in age from 26 to 60, and a few had come to America years ago from faraway lands - including Iran and Vietnam.
Their lives ended in tragedy at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on Wednesday after a homicidal couple opened fire.
The stories of the 14 people who died are beginning to emerge. USA TODAY put together short bios on several of the victims, based on social media pages, statements and interviews with family members, and recollections from co-workers:
Bennetta Betbadal
Bennetta Betbadal, 46, was born in Iran in 1969 and fled to America at the age of 18 to escape Islamic extremism and the persecution of Christians that followed the Iranian Revolution, according to a GoFundMe contribution site set up in her name. She initially settled in New York City, eventually moving to California and marrying her husband, Arlen Verdehyou, a police officer, the contribution page said. The couple moved to Rialto, Calif. and had three children, now ages 10, 12, and 15.
Betbadal graduated from Cal Poly, Pomona with a degree in Chemistry. "She accepted a position as an inspector for the San Bernardino County Health Department where she has served for many years," the GoFundMe page says. "Benneta was proud to work for the people of San Bernardino County. She loved her job, her community, and her country. Her greatest love, however, was for her husband, her children, and her large extended family."
In a statement, her family said, "Bennetta left the house Wednesday morning, excited about a presentation she was scheduled to give to her supervisors and coworkers at their annual meeting. It is the ultimate irony that her life would be stolen from her that day by what appears to be the same type of extremism that she fled so many years ago."
The money raised for her "will be used solely to benefit Bennetta's children, as they and the family adapt to life without her."
The family of shooting victim Tin Nguyen leave the county site for victims of yesterday's shooting in San Bernardino.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun/USA TODAY Network)
Tin Nguyen
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born woman who was planning to be married in 2017, dropped by the Wednesday-morning holiday meeting at the Inland Regional Center, her cousin Calvin Nguyen told the USA TODAY Network.
Neither Calvin nor the rest of Nguyen's cousins were concerned by 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, when the relatives were texting each other about the family's Christmas season plans.
It was around 11 p.m. when Calvin's family heard news that Nguyen, 31, was in the same facility they had seen on the news.
"Her mom tried to call, and all people tried to call, but no answer," Calvin said.
USA TODAY
San Bernardino shooting: What we know now
By midnight they still hadn't received word from Nguyen, of Santa Ana in Orange County, but had reached a tragic conclusion.
"We said, if she survived, she would have called us back," Calvin said Thursday.
Nguyen, like gunman Syed R. Farook, was a food inspector with the San Bernardino County Health Department, her uncle Phu Nguyen told the Newsday newspaper.
On Thursday afternoon, Calvin and about 10 other family members huddled together as they approached the grief counseling center set up by the county in nearby Highland. An older woman in the group stopped just short of the curb leading into the building, threw her head back and screamed. Several other family members held her as they escorted her into the small banquet hall.
USA TODAY
Republicans say no to new gun control legislation after San Bernardino
The screams could still be heard from the parking lot as the family faced the county's grief counselors inside. San Bernardino Sheriff's deputies guarding the facility closed the doors.
"She was very intelligent, a good girl, takes care of Mom and family," Calvin told the USA TODAY Network, as the family emerged from the facility in each other's arms about 20 minutes later.
"We very sad that we lose her," he said. "Pray for us."
Holly Nanning holds a picture of mass shooting victim and friend Daniel Kaufman during a candlelight vigil in San Bernardino, California, USA, 03 December 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: EPA)
Daniel Kaufman
Kaufman, who was serving coffee at the holiday event, was one of the victims of the shooting, his friend Jack Prewett told the USA TODAY Network.
Prewett had read on Facebook that Kaufman, 42, had been at the gathering when the shooting occurred, but had heard that his friend of 15 years was only injured in the attack.
"Initially we heard that he had been shot in the arm and was in surgery and everything was fine, and then we got that, no, that was a miscommunication."
Prewett came to the grief counseling center set up by San Bernardino County on Thursday morning to see for himself if the rumors of Kaufman's death were true. Police confirmed the sad news.
"I was dreading it," he said.
Jennifer and Nicholas Thalasinos met online.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Family photo)
Nicholas Thalasinos
Marie Medina, a 20-year resident of a quiet neighborhood in Colton, Calif., woke up Thursday morning feeling a sense of relief.
"They caught the guys. It's over," she thought at first.
But when she looked out the shades of her window, she knew she was wrong. "Instead it came right into our front yard."
News vans crowded into the neighborhood, and Medina soon realized the photo of a victim she saw on television the night before was a neighbor, Nicholas Thalasinos, who lived across the street.
The 52-year-old, an environmental health specialist for the county was a co-worker of suspected gunman Syed Rizwan Farook.
According to those who knew him, Thalasinos was outspoken about political and religious topics. But he was always known to be "wonderful and compassionate."
Nicholas lived in a baby blue stucco house with his wife, Jennifer Thompson-Thalasinos, whom he met 14 years ago. Family friend, Sharon Humphrey, 55, said the two met online, on opposite sides of the country. Jennifer lived in Colton and Nicholas lived in New Jersey.
A GoFundMe page set up to help Jennifer with funeral costs describes their relationship as "a truly romantic, fairy tale love." According to the page, the two bonded over their love for science fiction and fantasy, sharing an interest in Beauty and the Beast.
Humphrey said that Nicholas was a great family man who loved Jennifer and helped take care of her parents.
"It's an unbelievable tragedy," she said as she stood in front of their yard, talking with Medina. "You never expect this to happen to someone you know."
Thalasinos, a former New Jersey resident, was an employee at the department for about 12 years and had worked as an inspector alongside Farook, Thalasinos'wife, Jennifer Thalasinos, told KABC.
His widow, a second-grade teacher for Colton Joint Unified School District, told KABC that she met her husband online. He was living in New Jersey and moved out to San Bernardino to be with her.
"My husband, Nicholas Thalasinos, was killed in the shooting," she wrote in a Facebook post.
Also on social media, Thalasinos wrote that he received threats in the days leading up to the attack.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, he said he received a message full of threats, including one stating he "will die."
Fellow San Bernadino County worker Vincent Armijo, a leader with Shiloh Messianic Congregation church in Crestline where Thalasinos and his wife were members, told the USA TODAY Network that he got a call Wednesday afternoon saying his friend had not been accounted for and asking him to pray.
Profile Pictures - Jennifer Thalasinos | Facebook
"He was just one of those guys who wanted more and more and more from the church," Armijo said.
Condolences to Thalasinos' friends and family filled his Facebook page. Thalasinos' profile there and on Twitter, where he used the handle @LeastServant, indicated he used the platforms to share his conservative and pro-Israel views.
Some online speculated Thursday that those viewpoints may have made Thalasinos a target.
"Nick was very courageous and spoke the truth," one person wrote on his Facebook page. "It is my honest belief that Nicholas was murdered because of his alliance with Israel and Jewish people."
Armijo said Thalasinos was conservative and eager to share his opinions, but never aggressively so.
"I have some people in the congregation who you would know like that, but that was not the way I knew Nick," he said. "Nick had a pleasant manner about him, always said hello."
Michael Wetzel
Wetzel, also a colleague of gunman Farook, was identified Thursday by friends as one of the Inland Regional Center victims, according to the local San Bernadino Sun newspaper.
Wetzel's death was confirmed in a post on online fundraising site launched Thursday for his wife and six children. As of Thursday at noon, $51,478 of a $75,000 goal has been raised on the page, the paper reported.
In San Bernardino County Department of Public Health documents, according to the Sun, he is listed as a supervising environmental health specialist.
The family lives in Lake Arrowhead, a rural town north of San Bernadino, a spokeswoman for the Church of the Woods told the paper.
USA TODAY
Health inspector, wife slay 14 in murderous rampage at meeting
In the fundraiser posting, organizer Celia Behar wrote that Wetzel's wife, Renee, sent her a message on Wednesday. "Please pray. My husband was in a meeting and a shooter came in. There are multiple people dead/shot. I can't get a hold of him."
Only eight hours after that message was sent, "Renee learned that her husband Michael Raymond Wetzel had been killed," according to Behar.
Yvette Velasco
Velasco, 27, was described by her family as smart, motivated and full of life, the Associated Press reported.
This undated photo provided by George Velasco shows Yvette Velasco. She was one of the victims of a shooting at a social service facility in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: AP)
In a statement, her relatives said she was "loved by all who knew her."
"We are devastated about what happened and are still processing this nightmare," the family said.
Velasco is survived by her parents and three sisters.
"Please pray for our family and the other families who have lost a loved one as a result of this terrible tragedy," her relatives wrote.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Velasco's relatives searched everywhere for her. Mindy Velasco, her aunt, called hospitals, police and evacuee centers in a harrowing search for information, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"I'm fearing the worst," she told the paper. "She would definitely be in contact after something like this."
Damian Meins
In an email sent to employees, Juan C. Perez, director of Riverside County Transportation & Land Management Agency, called Damian Meins a "bright light" that had been "extinguished from our world in a most tragic way," the Los Angeles Times reported.
In the email, Perez wrote that Meins had spent 28 years working for Riverside County and had recently returned to a position with the environmental health department after retiring in 2010. Meins, he said, also had been a physical education teacher at St. Catherine's School in nearby Riverside, where he played Santa.
"I will always remember Damian as a caring, jovial man with a warm smile and a hearty laugh," Perez wrote.
Isaac Gebreslassie
A woman who answered a USA TODAY Network phone call Thursday at Isaac Gebreslassie's home said he had "passed away." She would not give her name. People were crying in the background.
A witness, Chris Nwadike, told the USA TODAY Network on Wednesday evening that Gebreslassie, 60, had been sitting next to Farook at the health department meeting before he left to fetch his wife and begin the rampage.
Gebreslassie is listed in payroll records as a supervising environmental health specialist in the same department where Farook worked.
On Wednesday night, Gebreslassie's wife, Hiwet, told The Wall Street Journal that she was unable to reach her husband by phone and that she and family members had spent all night driving around to local hospitals searching for him.
"I've tried calling, texting," she told the paper. "Nothing."
Later Thursday, Gebreslassie's brother told the Journal that the family had been notified that Gebreslassie was one of the 14 people killed.
Sierra Clayborn
Sierra Clayborn, 27, was more of a friend than a tenant to Mary Hale, the apartment manager for the small Fontana, Calif. unit where Clayborn lived with her boyfriend.
Hale last spoke with Clayborn the previous Wednesday, just before Clayborn was getting ready to visit her family for the holidays.
"She had to come in and wish me a happy Thanksgiving," Hale said in an interview Thursday.
She "just always had a smile on her face," Hale said. "Never a mean word was ever said. If something had to be fixed in the unit, she'd go, 'I'm sorry to bother you . . . '"
Hale said Clayborn worked for the health department, testing chemicals in pools. She loved her job.
"The only thing I can say is, she was a lady," Hale said.
When a journalist first approached Hale about Clayborn Thursday, Hale said she never imagined she would be one of the victims.
"I thought maybe she was getting an award," Hale said. "It was devastating."
Aurora Banales Godoy
The mother of a 2-year-old, Godoy "was a beautiful 26 year old woman who is leaving behind a beautiful baby boy named Alexander Godoy and loving husband, James Godoy," a GoFundMe page set up in her honor states.
Aurora Godoy, one of 14 people killed in the Dec. 2, 2015, attacks in San Bernardino, is shown here with her husband, James Godoy, and her 2-year-old son, Alexander Godoy.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: GoFundMe)
"The Godoy family has always been positive, fun, loving and have grown on all of us in such a short amount of time," the page says. "They are amazing people who need as much love and support they can get."
Other people who died in the attacks, according to the county coroner (biographical information was not immediately available):
Anna Rumer, Barrett Newkirk and Colin Atagi of The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun, Yihyun Jeong, Megan Cassidy and Amy B Wang of the Arizona Republic, and Brad Heath of USA TODAY contributed to this story. All are staffers for the USA TODAY Network.
MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Vigil For victims of San Bernardino shooting | 01:53A vigil was held at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino for the victims of Wednesday's mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. Video by Tom Tingle/The Republic Azcentral
MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Vigil for shooting victims held at San Bernardino mosque | 01:53A vigil was held for shooting victims at the largest mosque in San Bernardino on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. Video by azcentral.com
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MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Families coping with loss after San Bernardino shooting | 01:48Families and loved ones cope with loss and unanswered questions after two gunmen killed 14 people and injured 21 in San Bernardino, California VPC
MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.As Calif. Town Mourns, Suspects Investigated | 02:02Police say the suspects in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California were heavily armed when they stormed a holiday banquet Wednesday. (Dec. 3) AP
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MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.San Bernardino shooting victim 'was life itself' | 03:03Jack Prewett talks about his friend Daniel Kaufman who was killed in the mass shooting at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Video by desertsun.com The Desert Sun
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MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Mother of Shooting Survivor: I Feel Blessed | 01:21The mother of a woman who was shot during the shooting attack in San Bernardino said she is blessed that her daughter survived. (Dec. 3) AP
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MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Friend of potential San Bernardino victim: 'Praying she's OK' | 01:00David Royster says he's trying to get in contact with a friend who was at the holiday party at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people were killed in a mass shooting. Video by azcentral.com
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Video provided by Newsy Newslook
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MASS SHOOTING IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.Police chief names shooting suspects | 02:33San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan says the two suspects in the Wednesday morning shooting are named Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Both died in a shootout with police. (Dec. 3) AP
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Video provided by Newsy Newslook
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