San Bernardino shooting victims to be honored with new memorial; survivor speaks out
On Dec. 2, 2015, 14 men and women were gunned down by a married couple at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. The massacre also left 22 people seriously injured.
The county's Environmental Health Services Department was decimated by the mass shooting. We spoke to one man who was shot, but survived.
"Dec. 2, 2015, I was shot 6 times. After 21 days in the hospital, many years in physical therapy and psychological therapy, I feel like I'm in a better place today," said Kevin Ortiz, who was commemorating the anniversary on the corner that's become a makeshift memorial for the shooting.
"It's definitely something that we can't forget," he said. "Something that doesn’t go to the back of our mind. We think about it daily."
Earlier in the day, he'd returned for the first time to the office building from which so many of his co-workers were taken. He was there for a private groundbreaking and the unveiling of plans for a new, permanent memorial outside the County Government Center.
"We knew -- I knew many of those that died," said San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales. She says the county is forever changed, and the new memorial honors and remembers all affected.
It's called "The Curtain of Courage," comprised of mesh panels made of bronze and steel, and cast with colorful glass pieces.
The memorial will form 14 alcoves to enclose environments specific to each victim. World-renowned landscape artist Walter Hood is behind the design.
"People can go and find a place of solace, but also we understand that the public workers will be passersby daily to the space and so the space has to be uplifting," Hood said in a pre-recorded video that was played at the ceremony. "We didn't want the space to be of sorrow; we want it to be of light, we want it to be of remembrance."
Ortiz said the memorial is an extension of the the outpouring of community support he feels year after year.
"Even though we’re 5 years later, we’re not forgotten. My coworkers are not forgotten," he said. "I definitely see the support of the community – that they haven’t forgotten as well."
There is no timeline yet for when the memorial will start construction. As for the cost, the county said it's set aside more than $1 million for the project. They said whatever the price is going to be, it's small compared to what they lost 5 years ago.
