Ian David Long and Borderline Bar & Grill

In Episode 8 of SoCal Slaughters, the girls examine the tragic mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California. They explore the life and background of gunman Ian David Long, a former Marine struggling with mental health issues, and reconstruct the events of the night that left 12 victims dead, including Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus. 

The episode dives into the warning signs leading up to the attack, survivor accounts, law enforcement response, and the devastating aftermath that rippled through the community. 

The girls also discuss the overlap of the tragedy with the Woolsey Fire, which forced many survivors to face yet another disaster just days later.

Listener discretion is strongly advised. This episode contains discussions of mass violence, murder, suicide, PTSD, trauma, grief, and other disturbing topics.

🎙️ Subscribe to SoCal Slaughters for new episodes covering Southern California’s most infamous crimes, mysteries, and killers. New episodes every Sunday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. I'm Joey. I'm Brie. I'm Rachel. And this is the waters. I guess we're on. Let's do it. Let's go. I broke my nail. I'm gonna it's bothering me and I talk too much with my hands that everyone's gonna see it. So I apologize. But this night I've got a stand on my shirt too. And I'm gonna change. So this is like alternative top.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

We're just going with the flow.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah. Okay. There's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

There's a lot of flow today.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

You gotta be like water in this. Like Bruce Lee says, be water.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

I just I was like, if there's nothing I can do about it anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Yeah. Like everything's happening to me, and it's because I have to tell a story.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

So it's the truth. Yeah. Now the last thing we need is an earthquake. Oh my gosh. Why, Rachel? You know what? I just like what if there's a freaking earthquake right now? Or a spider fell down on her. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

You guys, okay. So, oh my God, I can't believe I didn't tell you this.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Oh, probably because it's a spider. It is.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

It's a real spider. Okay, so I was at work the other night and um I was done. And I was sitting down having a drink with one of my coworkers. And like I was kind of like facing her, like this, and she was facing me. And there's um like this overhang kind of above the bar, and there's like these fake plants like hanging down. And um, I wasn't paying attention. And I'm like sitting like this talking to her, and she's like facing this way, and she goes, Oh my god, don't move.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

I'm already moving. I wouldn't I would be out the door. She is there's a spider. And I just literally didn't even like I just went, I just fell forward.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Oh shit. Okay. I just just went, I just like was looking at her and I just fell forward.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

And then I got, I stood up and I turned and I looked, and it was legitimately like this big. Nope. And it was calm down, but it would have gone right on my head. And I was like, you just saved my life. Like I'm eternally grateful. I owe you my firstborn. I literally, I'm like, I you just gave my literary, like actually my life. And it was great, I couldn't believe it. And I'm like, that I would have never known, and then I would have probably died.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

I'm gonna say that I didn't hear half the story because I'm really upset about this workfriend, and I'm not okay with it. And I feel like okay, calm.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

She's an acquaintance, but we are. Aren't they always we? Okay. After we have to have a drink and discuss the evening. Yeah. Bree's very jealous, it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

I mean fine.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

But anyways, spider story of the week. Yeah. That was a serious one.

SPEAKER_05 3:26

I'm glad it was still coming because I was thinking it was on your head. No, but it was that close to it. If I wouldn't have fallen, like and it was coming down fast.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Ew, it was on a mission.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

Yeah, it's descending for its feed. It's on feed, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yeah. It was scary, but it I'm good. Shout out, Alyssa. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

It was just protecting you from other bugs.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

No.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

Yes, that's what it was doing. It doesn't want you, it wants bugs.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

No. That was out for me. Snack. I am a snappy. Yeah. Yeah. Um. So, anyways, that was like just my little quick shoot of shit that turned into a rant, apparently.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

And a nightmare later for Rachel. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Um, so cocktail time.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Yes. Oh, yes, yes. Okay. So this is a beer cocktail. So um, that's a fun one. Uh, we have a uh uh country-ish uh setting tonight. So I thought, what better way, you know, to celebrate a country-ish setting uh than adding some good old Kears Light to uh our cocktail for the evening. And Kears Edge. Yes, and we're real. It's new. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it just came out. Uh Coors Edge, it's the uh 0.0 um that is gonna be in breeze.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

I know you're thinking to yourself, how could Coors Light get any lighter? But they did it.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

They did it, folks. They sure did. Uh so yeah, so let's uh taste it. There is a little bit of a whiskey note in there. Um, and we got straws because it was getting out of control. Oh my god, where are my nuts? Oh yeah, we had beer nuts. I didn't get to do that. We didn't even get to try any.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

We shouldn't eat in my show, we'll save you guys from that. Because I would because then I wouldn't be able to listen to the podcast at all. Like, we'll see what is she doing?

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Oh my gosh, it's really good though. Oh, and then oh yeah. Uh my uh my or my merchandise collection.

SPEAKER_05 5:43

Oh yeah, so you went to uh No Doubt. I did.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Fun.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

Atmosphere. It has like a little I mean, I I'm loving the citrusy note. Yeah, honestly, it tastes almost like a sour patch kid to me. Yeah, yeah, I don't dislike this at all.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Okay, little lemon, little lime, real simple. Whiskey already has a little bit of that like sweetness, but it gives you that old-fashioned-y kind of like like undertone and then coarse light. And then coarse light. Yeah, it's good. I like it. Yeah, it's fun, it's just a little something different.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Anything citrusy to me is different.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah, it's light.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

It is actually light, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:25

It's light. It is kind of like summery. And again, with you doing the whiskey and me not hating it. Yeah, yeah. Because I usually don't like whiskey. I'm not a whiskey girl. I'm not good at making whiskey drinks tolerable.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Oh, yeah. The RIPA still gets asked for to this day.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

The RIPA is a killer uh killer beer poptail.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

Um, you don't know how to make it?

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Maybe we'll get we'll, you know, maybe we'll just something like that going similar later on. But um, anyways, yes, no doubt concert unmissable, epic, best night of my life, generally. So highly recommend if you well, you won't probably see this till after until it's over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

But if you have to go, you get it.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Yeah. If you went, let me know what you thought of the show, you know.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

And if you don't want the orange, you can get an address if you just email the girls at so cowslaughters.com. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

I did get an orange.

unknown 7:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I was able to acquire an orange. We could use more on our because I'm not I'm not putting mine in here. Mine's for me. No, yeah. But we'd absolutely put one on the shelf. Yeah. Um, yeah, so good times. And then right back in the car in a little under a week for back to bait for crime conzo.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Oh, I know. I get so excited. I'm really excited. I'm getting really excited. Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Me too.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

It's what, a week and a half? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Or so.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

And within two weeks. It's it's like about a week and a half. Hey, I'm so excited for the speakeasy that we're gonna go to.

SPEAKER_05 8:06

I'm really you're gonna like it. I've been a couple times. It's really cute. They have like bathtub gin, like in a little bathtub. In a bathtub, yeah. That's super cutie. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

I mean, I feel like they're gonna be able to make me some delicious um mocktails. Yeah, definitely. Oh, for sure. And and fun glassware. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

And a serial killer like setting almost, you know?

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

Mobster. Mobster. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of they killed a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Well, they have the serial uh the kill, the serial killer one. Yeah, there's a favorite one that just popped up.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Look, like I know that you guys said that it's like Poe. And so in that vein, I was like, I would much rather go to like a permanent one because I feel like they just have developed better, I guess. Poe was good, but yeah, it wasn't um it's not the same ambiance because like a good speakeasy is like the one that we went to for your birthday. Yeah, that was so cool. That was right. It was so cool. We were in the 1930s. 100%. Yes, they did a good job. It was really good. Wait, was I there? No.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

I was like nodding along and I was like, wait, I don't know what you're doing. Oh no, this was so. Oh, was that when you went to LA? No, it was in um Long Beach. Yeah, at Ruptain's.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:27

I don't remember what I don't remember what I don't know. I don't think we worked there.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

I don't think you worked there yet.

SPEAKER_05 9:32

Oh, so this was a long time ago. Yeah, no, this was a long time.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Yeah, yeah. I think you came shortly after. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

That year, likely.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Yeah, it was. I think it was.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Yeah, it was because Carolyn was there. Yeah. And so, and you were right after Carolyn. I feel like you started right after Carolyn. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

That was a fun one though. It was so much fun. Walked through a phone booth.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

It was so cool because the front, I wouldn't even hang out at that bar. No, yeah, at all. But that speakeasy, I mean, nothing against Rock Sands. Listen, it's just not my kind of establishment. It's a very sports bar place. You wouldn't expect that that speakeasy was in the back. It was dope. Cute. Really cool. Just don't listen to the answering machine because it is the voodoo record from the skeleton key. And I'm pretty sure that a I had to call so many times to get a reservation for you, too. And so I just, it just it sounded like that recording. And it was that voice. I was like, this is Satan, I'm going to die. You know?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Like one of the like I think. I mean, I know.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

One of the I love this movie.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

That specific uh track that is.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

It's horrifying.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

So scary. Yes. And like now I hate now. I'm gonna think about it for the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Um, I had to call it all the time because they weren't open all the time. Next Cabathon. Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. Definitely. That would be a good one for Scapathon.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Or Slumber Party. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Slumber Party. Dang it. I have to put that date together, guys. Sorry. Yeah. It's been a lot going on. Lots of ins and outs, guys.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

There has been a lot going on. Busy, busy, busy. Speaking of bars. Oh yeah. Yeah. This has been a really fun uh opening, but unfortunately, no more fun. This is a really rough one, honestly. I'm gonna tell you the truth. Like, I don't think that I got through a read of this yet where I wasn't like getting emotional. Yeah. It's like our biggest fear, I would say, like working in our industry, you know? Um, and it's just it's absolutely like horrifying the way that you know, you have to think about these people and what was happening. And it it's it's awful. So I'm sorry. Um, but tonight we will be um telling the story of the borderline barn grill massacre. So buckle up. Yeah. Are you guys ready? I'm ready. Yes. Sure. Let's do this. Godspeed. Um, okay. So Thousand Oaks is a suburban city known for being safe and quiet. It's the second largest city in Ventura County, and it's about 40 miles from Los Angeles. And there in 2018, along the Southern California country bar scene is where we would find Borderline Bar and Grill. Borderline originally opened in the late 1980s, and it was located on Pacific Coast Highway close to Malibu.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Um, then it relocated to Thousand Oaks in 1993.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Oh, okay, so not that far into that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Its slogan was where the boots meet the beach.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

Yeah. Right. And that like described it pretty perfectly. Obviously, more perfectly when it was on PCH near Malibu, but still. Uh, it was a massive country western venue. Oh, really? Okay. It's over 11,000 square feet. Wow. No, what?

unknown 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

The dance floor alone took up 2,500 of those. Wow, I had no idea it was that big.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

That's gigantic. That's a lot of boots, go and boogie.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

100%. I mean, that's that's you could do some tricks. You could do some tricks. A lot of turns.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Yeah. Um, they had live country music. Uh, they had line dancing, obviously, and they had they boasted cheap drinks. It was especially popular with students from California Lutheran University and several other nearby colleges that were within driving distance. I think there were like four other ones that are within 25-minute drive from there to Borderline. So kind of a college town. Very college y. Okay. And Wednesday nights were huge, and they were because they were college country night.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

Oh, yeah. Let's go. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Uh, and also it was 18 and over since it was college night. Oh my god, I remember when we got to do that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

Come on, get it together, you guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Yeah. So um, you know, it would be packed um on any given Wednesday night, shoulder to shoulder in there with kids from all colleges all over. Um, they had uh promoters, you know, at each one of the schools that like kept, you know, having people come out. So yeah, big, big night on Wednesdays.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

That sounds like fun.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Um, but despite the crowds, borderline really wasn't considered a problematic bar. You know, they didn't get a lot of calls on violence or well, it's disorderly. Yeah, it wasn't like that. But there was actually there were other bars in the area that they would, you know, find get way more calls for. But it was generally like uh just a fun time. Yeah, you know. But on November 7th, 2018, that changed forever. Because around 11 p.m., one of the deadliest mass shootings in California history began. Why do I feel like I say that a lot?

SPEAKER_04 15:19

We've covered some massacres.

SPEAKER_05 15:22

I feel like I'm always saying biggest uh something about the deadliest shooting. Like in the city.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

Yeah, why is this stuff all taking place in Southern California? Now you know why we cover Southern California. Yeah, first and foremost.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Yeah, yeah. So that night there were around 260 people inside Borderline. Jeez Louise doing bar stuff. And this was on a Wednesday? Wednesday night, drinking beer, whiskey cokes, right? vodka Red Bulls, college night. Oh yeah, tequila shots, you know, dancing, flirting, falling in love, celebrating birthdays, living normal bar life. And then a man dressed entirely in black approached the entrance with his hood up, armed with a legally purchased 45 caliber Glock 21, equipped with a Viridian, X5L tactical light, and a laser sight. Jesus! He also carried seven high-capacity magazines, a total of 190 rounds of ammunition, 10 smoke bombs, two fireworks, and a folding knife and a partridge and a paradigm.

SPEAKER_05 16:45

Fireworks? Yeah. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

That man was Ian David Long. Sorry, I'm gonna drink a lot during this one. Gotta tell you. Should have brought the shots last for you. He's 28 years old. He was a former U.S. Marine, and he had served for five years, including deployment to Afghanistan as a machine gunner. People who knew him often described him the same way, very serious, very withdrawn. Uh he had a short temper. He was very quick to anger. And after being honorably discharged in 2013 as a corporal, so he got into a motorcycle accident. Um, and he had a collapsed lung and he had like really bad damage to his shoulder. So he was unable to serve. And, you know, he was honorably discharged. Um, so he briefly attended college at California State University, studying to be an athletic trainer, but he eventually dropped out. And then he moved back in with his mother in nearby Newberry Park, which is only about seven miles from Borderline. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

I've never even heard of Newberry Park.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

Yeah, I don't think I have.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

Um, local officials already knew who he was. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Police had responded to multiple incidents involving him over the years. Neighbors reported violent outbursts, disturbing behavior, screaming, and even sounds resembling gunfire from the home in the middle of like all hours of the night.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

And we didn't put a watch on this guy or flag him within what I don't know, is a national gun registry or anything like that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Well, mental health professionals had evaluated him just months before the shooting because they were concerned that he had P like possibly had PTSD. Yeah. Yeah. But ultimately he was not placed under any psychiatric hold. Authorities determined that he wasn't an immediate threat to himself or others. Wrong.

unknown 19:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

So that night, Ian Long drove his mother's car to Borderline. On the way, he would later, we would later be seen on uh police dash cam footage. There was a car that passed him and they caught him, you know, like on the camera on the camera and dragging. Um at approximately 1118 p.m., surveillance footage could capture him also entering the parking lot of Borderline. Then on his way walking towards the bar, three male patrons passed him while they were leaving the bar. They were completely unaware of anything. You know. So he walked up the stairs toward the front entrance.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

So those guys got away?

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Yeah, they passed it.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

I was gonna say this is our luckiest day. Oh god.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

So he walked up the stairs toward the front entrance. So uh the bar has this big staircase, and at the top is the front doors, and then when you enter, there's like this cashier's desk. Yeah. Um, and then to the right of the cat, if you're looking at it, to the right of the cashier's desk is the entrance to the dance floor. Okay. It's like your immediate, like, in into it. And then on the left side is uh front office. Oh, okay. Okay. So he walked up the stairs toward the front entrance. He reached into his waistband and he opened fire. So 12 people were killed, and nearly two dozen were injured in this massacre. Okay. He walked in, he started opening fire on the dance floor, and he walked around looking for people to kill. Did he know people there? Uh I mean, he had been there before, um, but he was by no means a regular.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

So he wasn't like, I'm here specifically. Okay. Oh my gosh. I don't know that that makes it better or worse.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

So I'm going to give a quick shout out to the 12 victims. Um, a lot of the times in some of the research that I did, they don't name everybody. Um, there's more that we know about some and less about others because of privacy reasons. Um, but I do think they deserve to be noted. Absolutely. So, Sean Adler was a 48-year-old bouncer at the bar. Oh, gosh. With a wife and two sons. He was known to always stay late to ensure patrons and staff left safely. I mean, I had ton of bouncers over the years. Yeah, security would stay and walk me out to my car, like just super normal, like best bar stuff. Barcelona. Uh witnesses say he attempted to disarm Long, and multiple people stated that without him, they wouldn't have made it. That's awful. Yeah. Cody Kaufman was 22 years old, and he had just moved back home one month prior and was about to enlist in the military. There's a lot of military stuff in this.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

It's California. I feel like there's just a lot of military in California.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Um, it's been stated that he was killed while shielding some girls at the bar. And one witness said he helped out, but he kept going back in.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Oh, what I'm hearing. Good dude. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Blake Dingham and Jake Dunham, both 21 and best friends. Oh, goodness me. They died alongside each other, and they were there with a few friends, but the friends left early and they wanted to stay. And these are the three who passed long on his way inside. So, like, if they would have gone home with them, you know. Elena Housley, at 18, she's 18 and overnight, she was the youngest victim. She was a new freshman at Pepperdine University studying law. When her body was returned to her hometown of Napa, family, friends, and hundreds of strangers lined the streets as the car went by.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Daniel Manreek was a 33-year-old military vet who helped returning vets re-acclimate to civilian life. Wow. With an organization called Team Red, White, and Blue. So this is kind of ironic because.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

Yeah, that's exactly what this dude needed. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Um, so one month prior, he had been promoted to regional program manager. So that was a really exciting time for him. He's probably celebrating. Um, and it was said that he had touched hundreds and thousands of vets' lives and like literally devastatingly could have helped Ian Long. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Justin Meek, 23-year-old recent grad of Cal Lutheran, uh, who had returned for a two-year work study at the Veterans Resource Office while planning to join the Coast Guard. So it's like every faction here. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Is there, is I wonder if there's a big base. I mean, I I didn't there has to be. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe in like Oxnard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

I mean, maybe fairly close, but it does, it's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. He had been a promoter for uh the event that night, and witnesses said that he put himself in front of others and shielded them from gunfire. Noelle Sparks was a 21-year-old Moore Park college student. Mo Moore Park's like really right nearby. It's like the neighboring town. Uh, she was very active in the Methodist church, and she was a youth camp counselor. Telly Orfanos. Okay, this one is crazy. Um, Telly was a 27-year-old Moore Park College student, also, and a military vet of the Navy. And he was working at the bar that night. He had just attended the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas a year prior to that and survived.

SPEAKER_04 25:26

I don't know. That's the Vegas. Oh, oh, oh. Got it, got it. I remember this.

SPEAKER_05 25:32

From one to another.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Jeez loves. Within barely a year.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Uh, a good friend of mine, her cousin, was also at the night Route 91 and was at Borderline. Oh, both. She after she survived, obviously. Oh, wow. Didn't leave her house until she went to Borderline. Oh my gosh. And then and she like went out with friends to finally get out of the house after a year.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

Just that's what I thought about though, is like five, that's some final destination.

SPEAKER_05 26:02

And she did survive um borderline as well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Wow. Yeah. That's why I would never go anywhere again.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

100%.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

Like, oh, absolutely. I would be agoraphobic. Yeah. There's no way.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah. Christina Morissette. Kill her last name. I was gonna say. 20-year-old cashier for the bar working the door out front that night. Oh, it was a door girl. Yeah. Um, and she is rumored to be the first victim. Stop. Marky Meza Jr. was a 20-year-old busboy and food runner working that night. And he was two weeks away from his 21st birthday. And finally, Sergeant Ron Healis. Wow. 54 years old, one year from retirement, father, husband, taught gun safety, and he took decisive action that night to try and save anyone he could. So, two of the victims, like rest in peace. Yes. And rest in peace. Thank you for saving the people that you could.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

Without them, this would have been so much worse. Way worse. So much worse. Yeah. Like those people were meant to be there. Yeah. Because literally without them, so many more people would have died. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Okay. So that was like I didn't, I didn't sip.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

That's bad luck.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

That was the uh most emotional part of the evening. Okay. We made it through. Yeah. We made it through. Barely. Okay, so from this point, what I have is from the official Ventura County Sheriff's Office reports. So again, it's 1118 p.m. Long passes the three male patrons leaving the bar. He walks up the stairs to the front door, reaches for his waistband, and the first moments were catastrophic. Witnesses described complete confusion. I mean, imagine it. No. You're on the dance floor. Yeah. It's 11, almost 11:30. Like this is full swing. Yeah. You know, like the music was still playing. You know, you're slightly inebriated. Yeah, you're you're getting, you know, you're getting it going. And then you were initially think, what? Maybe it was fireworks. Maybe a fight broke out. Yeah. Maybe the speakers had blown. A skerfuffle. Yeah. But within seconds, panic explodes. Stop. As he opens fire, immediately hitting Christina and Sean, the uh front door and the bouncer. And into the large open concept dance floor. And this is where reports say most of the victims were found. So even though he did go inside and walk around, um, most of everything that happened, the casualties, were within that uh initial gunfire on the dance floor.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Yeah, there's the most. It's just fish in a barrel at that point. God, this guy's such a piece of shit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Yeah. Um, authorities later stated that during the initial round of gunfire alone, over 60 rounds were fired. The first 911 call came in less than one minute after the shooting began. In total, there would be nearly 500 emergency calls tied to the attack that night. Inside borderline, people ran anywhere they could. I mean, you can imagine this is chaos. There's 260 people in there.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

You know, some hid in bathrooms, others crawled under tables. Um, as you heard, some of the, you know, witnesses were saying people were pulling people down and shielding them under tables and at the bar. Many would smash windows with tables and chairs trying to escape, climbing through shattered glass. Meanwhile, Ian Long started throwing the smoke devices that he bought into the bar. And then shooting at fleeing patrons through the smoke.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Oh, yeah, because he has the lasers. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

So he's gone in, right? He's shoot shot like up the dance floor. He's walked around. People are now scattered, right? So he's kind of like looking, searching. Now he's kind of backing his way out of the dance floor area, um, back into like the open, like uh where the doors are. Yeah. So he's throwing the smoke bombs and he's like backing out and shooting through the smoke bombs he's throwing in front of him. Um and then he comes back out the doors and around the desk and he goes into the front office. Oh. Oh. Yeah. So then at this point, he shuts off the lights. So it's just even worse. So we have darkness and we have smoke.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Is there really is there only like one exit? Like the front door is the in and out.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

There's a back, there's a back door.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

Yeah, but no one that's there is like, I know how to readily get to this.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

But there's windows, you know, along both sides, the side and this side. So people, I think the majority, the people, you can't really get to the wind, to some of the windows, I think, on this side. So most of the windows that people are going through are on the on the other side. Um, I don't know what this and this side. Yeah, I'm sorry. I still get what I can see it in my head. There's gonna be photos. Um uh so patrons are now seen on camera, throwing bar stools out at the front windows, trying to get out, which is like harder to get to windows. Uh, about one minute into the shooting, CHP officers Todd Barrett and Lydia Espinoza. So they were there within one minute of it. They were actually on a routine traffic stop nearby, like about like a half a minute away from Oh my gosh, that's awesome. Wow. So these are the same officers who had caught Long on their dash cam as he was driving to the bar. Um, so then there's people escaping the bar, right? So they're running down the street. Oh, yeah. They see the uh the car, and so they run over to the um officers and they're yelling, there's a shooting in there, you know? And so he's replying, where? And then they tell him in borderline. And so they jump into their car, like ditching this traffic stop, obviously. 100%. And they said they it in their reports it says they could start as soon as they said that, they started hearing like pop, pop, pop, pop, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, they arrive at the bar within one minute, um, but they stay in the parking lot talking to dispatch because they're first arrivals and without knowing, you know, what's walking into also. So Long is seen at this point on the office cameras, throwing more smoke bombs, and now activates his laser sight. So patrons who had made it outside are now breaking windows in. Because before they were breaking windows, but they want to help other people in to try to help people get out. Yes. Um, so then four minutes later, Sergeant Ron Healis arrives joining Barrett and Espinoza. The three officers derived a plan and moved in instead of waiting any longer for SWAT. That was the decisive thing that that Sergeant Healers did. This office that Long was in had nine security cameras, so he could see all my greenish.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

I hate him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Upon their arrival to the stairs, Healis asked a patron there, Do you know where the shooter is? And the patron replied, Inside and to the right. So Healis leads up the stairs with Barrett behind him and Espinoza third. Um, I think she kind of stayed behind a little bit just in case the shooter exited. Like, okay, you know. Um, so healess peeks inside using the light on his rifle to scan the opening, the first room. And um, he sees multiple people down in the dance floor room, and so they they start to enter. So Long opens fire only like 10 feet away from them, and they return fire, but because it's so dark and there's so much smoke in the air, they can't see him, so they fail to hit him. So Barrett retreats back outside at this point and uh down the stairs a bit. And then healers also begins to back out because they're just getting fired on. You know, you can't see, they don't know. So they're starting to like retreat. Um, but you know, healers is ahead of Barrett and he's like further inside. So on his way backing out, he trips over a velvet rope and he falls, but then he like army crawls his way toward the porch. But using his laser sight, long followed every move that Healis made. So Barrett starts to shoot in the direction of the gunfire, and he also sadly uh like as Healis begins to stand from after he was down and hit. Um, he's returning fire also. Um, but he's hit with um Barrett's return fire. But Barrett doesn't know it because he doesn't see him, you know. Um, no one can see inside still, and he doesn't even know that Healis is as close as he is to the door. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So Heal manages to reach an alcove um right outside the front door, and there he begins to return fire again, even though like he was already hit five times by Long and then once by Barrett. And um, he would later be pronounced dead. So it's still Long's victim. Yes, 100%. About 15 minutes after the gun battle at like 11:38 p.m. ish, less than 20 minutes after entering Borderline.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

That was such a long time.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

Yeah. Ian Long ended his own life with a gunshot wound to the head. Coward. Such a coward. Yeah. By the end of the night, 12 victims were dead. 19 survivors were recovered, still inside, 29 people were treated at local hospitals, and 128 people sustained injuries, ranging from like bumps, bruises, cuts, you know, to like fractures and lacerations. Um, and then hundreds obviously were physically or psychologically scarred forever. One survivor was interviewed after, Matt Winterstrom, and he was credited with helping at least 35 people escape. Get it, Matt. Yeah, before saving himself. Uh later he said, quote, all I did was grab as many people as I could and pull them under the table until I heard a break in the shots. And then we got as many people out of there as we could. I'm here to protect my friends, my family, and my fellow humans.

SPEAKER_04 37:25

Okay, that is gonna get me.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Yeah. Well, sorry, but more to that note. Um, he actually would end up passing away on February 26th, 2022, from a fatal motorcycle accident, which is crazy because there's so many motorcycle accidents here. Like there was another the the best friends that um that passed away, they were like super into motorcycle like riding.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

Yeah, have you ever been? No, oh you haven't. Okay, but going on a motorcycle ride through those hills. Once you go on a good motorcycle ride, you understand why people do it all the time. It's fucking fun. I'm not sure. Not for me.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Yeah. So bomb techs and canines were brought in and around the scene area to check for like if he planted any more explosives or if he had anything in his car, but nothing was found, fortunately. Uh, frantic families were calling and directed to the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, which was set up for reunification for survivors. But unbelievably, the horror was not over. Only days later, the Woolsey fire ripped through Ventura County. Oh, that's right. Yep. Families who were already grieving loved ones and going through this horrific, you know, nightmare were suddenly having losing their homes, evacuating their homes, losing their homes. Um, so this was an entire traumatic, like traumatized community in like a matter of like two days. That's insane. Yeah. So later, investigators would discover evidence suggesting Ian Long had been planning this violence for two years.

SPEAKER_04 39:07

Wow. But he's totally mentally fine. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

He had purchased his weaponry and the equipment, all everything that he came in with in 2016. Within that time, 2016 to 2018, his internet searches included mass shootings, becoming a killer, the death penalty in California, which obviously we know he opted out of. Yeah. Took it upon himself. Yeah. And he visited Borderline's website on January 6th, 2018, October 16th, 2018, October 22nd, 2018, October 31st, 2018, and finally on November 1st, 2018, which was six days before the massacre. Did he live by himself? No, he lived with his mom. But he's look like going on this, he's like learning the layout of this bar. Yeah. Like he's doing recon on the car. And he went there, not just exactly to know exactly where in the office the lights are. Yeah. And exactly like that, he knew he if he went in there, he could see everything.

SPEAKER_04 40:29

I don't understand how parents don't recognize things. My child can't do shit without she can't, she can think something. Yeah. And I'm like, how dare you? Like, I know what you're thinking. And I just know her so well. How do you not look at I love her a lot? But if she no, I love her more than anything on the planet. But I would have a hard time if my child I knew was losing their mind in some way, not going to the ends of the earth to make sure that she was safe, that other people were safe. Like you sh you have to have seen the warning signs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Well, his mom and him were having a really tumultuous relationship because obviously she was not like a fan of this violence. And this the the they were the only two living there. So the violence was like, Oh, yeah, gunshots in the middle of the night and shit like that. He's all of his violence is is, you know, veering towards his mother. And they had been arguing about him moving out. Like she wanted him to move out. And I think there was a um, there was a note, there was like a text correspondence between the two of them. I think it was text, maybe it was a note, but uh he did tell her, you know, like that he was gonna be uh gone by a like a certain day, and then she would never have to like worry about him again. Wow. But it wasn't a Wednesday. It was like a Saturday, so it wasn't really like Okay, yeah. I don't I don't know exactly like what dates like that actually came to, but it was a Saturday that he had put in the note. Despite everything, he never left behind a real explanation or a manifesto or anything. He um was only rumored to have hated college students, saying at one point they should all be wiped off the planet and two chilling online posts written from the office during the massacre. Are you sick? So during this time that he was in the office, he was constantly checking his phone and on social media. That's insane. Yeah. So he posted twice. What the fuck?

unknown 42:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:50

So one of those read quote, it's too bad I won't get to see all the illogical and pathetic reasons people will put in my mouth as to why I did it. Fact is, I had no reason to do it and just thought, fuck it. Life is boring, so why not? I was just gonna say he's so boring. Yeah. And the other read, quote, I hope people call me insane with two laughing emojis. That's insane. Wouldn't that be just 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 to like straight mouth emoji. What is the straight mouth emoji? Like a like a like a I don't know what you call it.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

Not that I love that, but that's that's like me, like not the not the one with the teeth.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

The one with the straight mouth. Like the straight line. I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

That's also I also use that. That is a mad time. Like with the one with the the eyes and the mouth, that's my mat, like yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:59

So Those that was the end of that quote. But that's a ter that's part of it that that makes it so scary is like that it just taunting boring.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

Yeah. Like also fucking guys that use emojis.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

Yeah. In a social media post. Like while he's working. Multiple. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Borderline closed that night and stood boarded up for five years. Wow. Until it was demolished per the owner's request. Okay. In November of 2023. Okay. Just over a year after the shooting, the bar owners announced they had planned on reopening Borderline. And during construction, they opened a like temporary location, is what they called it.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Called BL Dance Hall and Saloon in Agora Hills, which is not really close. Yeah. This location served as a memorial in its own right with framed memorabilia from the Thousand Oaks location, as well as 12 bar stools. It is currently closed. Um there isn't actually a date that is at like formally listed as to when it closed, um, but it was before 2025. And there isn't any information about its reopening. Okay. But it does say temporarily closed on Yelp. Um, but there's been other like reports in like areas other stories saying that they are likely not to re they're not going to reopen it. To honor the victims, a permanent healing garden with 12 granite benches and water features was constructed at Caneho Creek Park North in Thousand Oaks, which is open for visitors today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

The story's horrible.

SPEAKER_05 46:00

That was awful.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

That was a rough one. That was so was that. That was hard. Really hard. But we chose to do this.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

Well, we also chose because we know somebody who whose kid was there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:19

Yeah, I know. I I like I was gonna uh text her or call her, but I was like, I just feel bad bringing it up.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

Yeah, you know her friends were there, yeah. There's like they were they climbed out of the windows. I think that they got hurt climbing out of a window or something like that, if I remember correctly. But I couldn't imagine my kid just going out and the hearing that that's going on, yeah, being a parent and not being able to get an answer.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

Yeah. And know, like, are they there? Yeah. You know, where are they? Yeah, it's it's awful. It's so scary.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

I mean, uh, to be honest, I have not had a serious situation happen at any of the bars or restaurants that I've worked at. Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, there's fights and stuff like that. I mean, come on. But I didn't learn until I don't know, I want to say the last few years, because you know, we're the ones. We are the ones that are the crowd control. We're the ones that, I mean, I shouldn't be the one that's trying to tell some guy he needs to calm down when we have a bar full of men. Yeah. But that shit doesn't exist anymore. Their chivalry doesn't, I mean, it's few and far between, and that's unfortunate. But I'm the protector. And we had, we had somebody where there was like a loud noise that it could have been a gunshot outside. And my ass started to walk towards the door to be like, what's going on? And then I was like, What am I doing? Somebody told me, like, you're a mom, what are you doing? And that's my natural instinct is to walk towards something. Is everybody okay? Yeah. And then I was like, Yeah, I am a mom. Fuck that. Have um locked the door. Like, yeah, I but that's not the way that my mind thinks. And I'm very happy that that changed.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Cause I mean, that's the first thing that I did I would do is I was I would lock the door, especially down, you know, where you know, yeah, you're where you guys work, where I used to work. There's a lot of like uh dodgy stuff that goes on, like sometimes at night in the summertime. And if I had somebody outside and I was trying to close and like, you know, it I wasn't, we weren't quite closed yet, and I still have people in there, and somebody was walking around, I I just locked the door. Yeah, like all the time. What's the point? We do it all the time. Doesn't mean we're closed. You want to come in, come to the door, I'll let you in. But I'm not just leaving it open for you know, whatever's going on out here to come inside and you know, so because unfortunately, it is not illegal to have a mental illness and be out there on the street.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

And I'm gonna say it's unfortunate to the fact that like I people with mental illness, it's uh not everybody is dangerous, yeah. But even if they are, until they do something, yeah, we just have to sit and be in fear. That's why we're allowed to have concealed and carry as bartenders. Yeah. But I still like I'm too afraid that somebody's gonna take it away from me and use it on me. That's the statistic. Yeah, I'm good. But you're right, just locking the door and getting walked out to your cars.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 49:42

Always until you're in your car. Yes. I don't, I the amount of times that girls are like, oh, I'm good. Yeah, just gonna walk five blocks by myself and it's 11 o'clock at night. The amount of times that I had to be like, no, I'll drive you. I'm just I'll be right back. Somebody watched the bar. I'm gonna drive her up the street because nobody else is offering to make sure that people are getting home safe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

Angel would walk me home all the way.

SPEAKER_04 50:09

Oh, Angel leaves on my shifts. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Well, I would leave and let them close the bar. And so he would like after we were done, like he would lock up the front and he would walk me home, and then he'd come back and wait for the dishwasher and like close up.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

He leaves. Sorry. Well, that was the story of the borderline uh bar and grill massacre. So yay. Stay safe. Glad he's dead, but sucks that he didn't uh I know that was like there were so many counts that he would be responsible for, like two. I mean, with what he did.

SPEAKER_05 50:52

He should have suffered.

SPEAKER_04 50:53

I this is what I'm saying. I I like I wish that they would have been able to overpower him or something, you know, some something. Yeah, or maybe just injured him really badly with the gunfire, and then he had to live in pain. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Well, oh, yeah, so yeah. Speaking of social media, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:24

Uh, we have uh YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and an email, thegirls at so cowslaughters.com. Subscribe and follow and share, rate, and share, and comment and all that.

SPEAKER_04 51:39

And let us know what you think. Is there anything that you guys would like uh any stories that you guys want us to cover?

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Yeah, yeah. We want to know. Yeah, you know, we can be low and we can be hi. Like the shows are, you know, we're all over the place.

SPEAKER_04 51:56

Yeah, you don't know.

SPEAKER_05 51:57

We're across the board, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

And then we also are on Apple Podcasts now, and it's gonna include video soon.

SPEAKER_05 52:06

Yeah. That's exciting. It's so exciting. It's there.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

We'll be there. We're there.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

We'll we're there. We're still there.

SPEAKER_03 52:13

Yeah, uh Apple and Spotify audio. And YouTube. And then obviously. The YouTubes.

SPEAKER_04 52:20

Yeah, the YouTubes and the Grums. Yeah. And Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Yeah. I was ready to put out the house.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

Yeah, yes, I am. So next time.