Thousand Oaks has faced two big tragedies, both in November. On November 7, a gunman opened fire on a busy college night in the Boreline Bar & Grill, and on November 8, the wildfires began. Looking back, what were the causes, and what are the long-term consequences?

On November 7, 2018, a gunman opened fire at the Borderline Bar & Grill on a busy college night, located 20 miles from Los Angeles. The authorities identified the man, 28-year-old Ian D. Long, who shot himself before being apprehended. Unfortunately, the body count, was 12 victims, with 10 dying from multiple gunshot wounds, and two killed by shots to the head. The victims of this horrible tragedy did not have much time to mourn, as the wildfires began the day after.

With the wildfires spreading through Ventura County, residents were forced to evacuate, including those who had survived the shooting. We hope for additional support to be given to the city of Thousand Oaks, and for its residents.

Although many people have spoken out on the matter of these tragedies, no one was more popular than Donald Trump. He claimed, “It’s the forests management fault for the cause of all the fires,” and also threatened to cut the funding in California, which is something most of the victims of the fire don’t want to hear. The evacuation took hours, and 80% to 90% of homes were destroyed, caused by one of three major wildfires spreading through California. It was estimated that around 75,000 people were forced to evacuate in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Entire towns were destroyed because of the fires. The number of people unaccounted for goes up to 196, and the death toll goes up to 88, not counting the victims of the shooting. Now almost a month later the number of death is confirmed to be 85 and the total of missing people drops dramatically to now 11.