How Borderline shooting survivors revived a fallen friend’s legacy with a dance club

THOUSAND OAKS —  Justin Meek surely would have appreciated the bench his family placed in his memory on the campus of Cal Lutheran University. It’s right beside the tree where he liked to hang in his hammock, within hollering distance of the corner patio where his big, bass voice sounded out on open-mic nights.

There’s also a flag pole dedicated in his name in front of the college’s pool, where he played water polo. “In Memory of Justin Meek. . . . Hero. Friend.”

But if Meek could take pride in a legacy, his sister thinks, it would be the friends and former classmates who gather nearly every Wednesday on a patio near the Student Union. There, on balmy nights beneath strands of white lights, the Cal Lutheran Line Dancing Club that Meek created dances on.

“It’s not a physical object with his name on it, as much as all of that means,” said little sister Victoria Rose Meek, who doubled as Justin’s best friend. “But it’s like Justin’s spirit is being lived out in all these kids. He would just think that is the coolest thing.”

Thursday will mark the first anniversary of the Borderline Bar & Grill massacre, the senseless shooting that killed Justin Meek and 11 others. Since that terrible night, the city of Thousand Oaks has responded with remarkable compassion and grace, with a police officer assigned to each victims’ family, to make sure no need goes unmet, a writing project launched to provide the community an outlet for its collective grief and a garden to be dedicated Thursday afternoon in Conejo Creek North Park to continue the community’s “healing journey.”

The attack that shattered a night of celebration and camaraderie at the Borderline became all the more unforgettable because of what came next. A spate of wildfires swept the state the next day, with the Hill and Woolsey fires bracketing Thousand Oaks on the west and east. The latter would burn all the way to the ocean, destroying more than 1,000 homes along the way. That same day, the Camp fire decimated the town of Paradise, incinerating nearly 14,000 homes and killing 86 people.

Said Victoria Rose Meek, one of the 248 survivors of the shooting: “It felt like the apocalypse there, for awhile.”

That day, a year ago, started like many others. Though Meek had graduated the previous spring, his sister had kept the Line Dancing Club together. They planned to rendezvous with others for “college night” at the Borderline, the club just off the 101 Freeway and Moorpark Road, 10 minutes south of the college.

Meek still worked as a promoter for the club, getting a small bonus for each customer he lured through the doors. And he was good at his job — his buoyant personality and love of music inspiring others.

Meek, 23, planned to meet friends that night, to celebrate one’s birthday and to make plans for a trip home to Coronado, where he had gone to high school and where his mother and father, a Navy veteran, still lived.

An hour before midnight, he told his friend Fernan Diamse, “Only an hour to go!” Diamse would be celebrating his 36th birthday, so the two pals stepped to the bar to have a shot and a Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boy. They shared a laugh.

“We were talking about how American our situation was,” recalled Diamse, a Line Dancing Club regular and a Navy veteran. “We’re in a country bar, watching rodeo and drinking PBR, saying, ‘It can’t get any more American than this.’ ”

Dan Manrique, a former Marine and another member of the crew, had just arrived at the Borderline and stood near the door with Meek, while Diamse went to visit with Kelsey Lewis. Another originator of the Cal Lutheran Line Dancing Club, Lewis was working as a DJ that night on the dance floor.

Not long after, Ian David Long walked in the Borderline’s front door and began shooting. Witnesses described how the 6-foot-3, 275-pound Meek, a sometime security guard at the club, raised his arms and tried to block the gunman. Long shot him and his friend Manrique, then moved on, killing others as he went.

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People comfort each other after a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 7, 2018.   (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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People comfort each other after a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Molly Esterline and David Crawford comfort each other after the shooting.  ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Survivors and bystanders outside the Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Sheriffs deputies investigate the shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

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People stand in a parking lot along South Moorpark Road in the aftermath of the shooting.  (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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A crowd including survivors gathers at a street corner near the Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Calvin Alagot / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters search the scene near the Borderline Bar & Grill the morning after the shooting.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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People huddle together in a parking lot along South Moorpark Road in the aftermath of a mass shooting.  (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Survivors embrace in the aftermath of the shooting.  (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times)

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Chyann Worrell, left, Nellie Wong and Erika Sigman were inside the Borderline Bar & Grill when the shooting started.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

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Sheriffs interview witnesses at the Borderline Bar & Grill.  ( Calvin Alagot / Los Angeles Times)

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Holden Harrah, 21, right, who witnessed the shooting, hugs family and friends  ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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People hug on the side of the road from the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks.  (Mike Baker / For the Times )

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Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Buschow and Sgt. Julie Novak embrace outside the Borderline Bar & Grill after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including a fellow deputy.  ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Tim Dominguez, who was in the bar with his son during the shooting, grieves alone.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Officers inspect the Borderline Bar & Grill after the shooting.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Witnesses console one another across the street from the Borderline Bar & Grill and talk to law enforcement.  (Sean Greene / Los Angeles Times )

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A couple walk up Rolling Oaks Drive following the shooting.  (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times)

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Survivors leave the scene the morning after the shooting.   ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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People hug following the shooting.  (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times)

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Sarah Rose DeSon talks to friends after witnessing the shooting.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

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A police officer surveys the area around Borderline Bar & Grill.  ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Ventura County sheriff’s cadets and Oxnard College Fire Academy cadets salute as the procession carrying the body of Sgt. Ron Helus heads to the medical examiner’s office in Ventura.  (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

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Members of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Dept. salute as a hearse carrying the body of Sgt. Ron Helus arrives at the coroner’s office in Ventura.

  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Comdr. Christopher Dunn escorts relatives of Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus as officers salute them near the entrance to the coroner’s office.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Tiffany Azpeitia, 26, left, and Jamie Eads, 23, both of Thousand Oaks, line up to donate blood for victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill mass shooting. “It is hard, everyone is like family there,” said Eads.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

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p>Los Robles Regional Medical Center staff stand in respect as the hearse carrying Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus leaves the hospital.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Hundreds line up at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks to donate blood for victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill mass shooting.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

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A hearse carrying the casket of Sgt. Ron Helus heads north on the 101 Freeway past the Borchard Road overpass toward the medical examiner’s office in Ventura.

  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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From left, Alexis Tait, 23, Rachel Berg, 20, and Harrison King, 24, weep as the hearse carrying Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus leaves Los Robles Regional Medical Center for the medical examiner’s office in Ventura. The three were inside the bar when the shooting took place.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Crowds watch the procession carrying the flag-draped casket of Sgt. Ron Helus to the medical examiner’s office in Ventura.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Meek’s sister and his friend Diamse were among more than 200 who were able to flee, many of them flinging themselves out of holes in the smokey plate glass windows that looked out on the freeway. Diamse and others created escape paths by throwing bar stools through the glass.

The assault ended after a CHP officer and Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus rushed into the club. They engaged Long in a gunfight. Helus died of a shot fired by his fellow officer. Long retreated to the Borderline office where he killed himself with a gunshot to the head. A year later, his motive remains a mystery.

Meek’s friends and sister spent the remainder of 2018 regrouping and trying to heal. The bad dreams and survivor’s guilt clung to Diamse. But he found some solace in what his mother told him: “You were spared for a reason.”

Meek’s sister stayed away from dancing for a time. But by last spring another club member organized a dance with another college. A spark was rekindled and, by this fall, Victoria Rose was ready.

A memorial to the 12 victims of the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting in Thousand Oaks continues to stand as people come to pay respects in front of the country-western bar frequented by college students at the one year anniversary of the shooting on Nov 7, 2018.

(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

Kathy Dunham, left, Mother of Jake Dunham, 21, hugs Elsa Manrique, right, Mother of Dan Manrique, 33, both who were among those killed in the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks. They visited at the memorial to the 12 victims that stands in front of the country-western bar frequented by college students as the one year anniversary of the shooting on Nov 7, 2018 draws near.

(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

“We started the club back again, back where we left off,” she said. “It’s just trying to get back a bit of that normality.”

On Wednesday nights, the speakers are dragged back on to the patio, the Dominoes pizzas are lined up on a table and students trickle in. Some of the young women wear shorts with their cowboy boots. But jeans and flip flops will do.

As soon as the music comes up, the regulars begin sliding and bobbing over the concrete. The song is pop — Jason Derulo’s “Get Ugly”— and Victoria Rose begins gently calling out instructions: “Right, left, swing, swing,” she begins. “Now triple right and coaster step, transfer weight, transfer weight, step, hitch.”

Thirteen women, two young men and one math professor gain a bit of momentum. There are occasional stumbles and giggles. They finish mostly in unison. And Diamse, who is playing DJ tonight, offers quiet praise: “That was good. Really good.”

Math professor Karrolyne Fogel saw some students lose focus and struggle after the tragedy. In recent weeks she joined the line dancers on the moonlit patio. She saw the balm that came with community and with movement.

“When you are dancing you are more in your body and less in your head,” Fogel said. “It’s just a powerful form of movement that joins the brain, the body and the emotions.”

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Juan Sarai of Oxnard looks over as finishing touches are placed on the Healing Garden being constructed at Conejo Creek North Park in Thousand Oaks to remember the 12 lives taken and the 248 that survived the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Conejo Recreation and Park District work finishing touches on the Healing Garden being constructed at Conejo Creek North Park in Thousand Oaks.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Ken and Kathy Dunham, parents of Jake Dunham, 21, who was among those killed in the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks visit the memorial to the 12 victims that stands in front of the country bar frequented by college students as the one year anniversary of the shooting on Nov 7, 2018 draws near. They visit the memorial once a week tending to the flowers and photos.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Elsa Manrique, left, and Gladys Koscak, the mother and sister of Dan Manrique, 33, who was among those killed in the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, replace photos of victims that have faded in the sunlight at the memorial.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Ken and Kathy Dunham, parents of Jake Dunham, 21, who was among those killed in the mass shooting, show tattoos they inscribed from the last Mothers Day and birthday cards they received from their son.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Ken and Kathy Dunham, parents of Jake Dunham, 21, who was among those killed in the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, show tattoos they inscribed to honor their son.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Ken and Kathy Dunham, center, parents of Jake Dunham, 21, hug Elsa Manrique and Gladys Koscak, the mother and sister to Dan Manrique, 33, both who were among those killed in the shooting.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Donna Benevento, a neighbor of Telemachus Orfanos, one of the 12 victims of the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting, visits the memorial to the 12 victims that continues to stand once a month as people come to pay respects in front of the country and western bar frequented by college students at the one year anniversary of the shooting on Nov 7, 2018.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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The Healing Garden was conceived to provide a place for contemplation, meditation, and prayer and will be dedicated at the one year anniversary of the shooting on Nov 7, 2018.   (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Merle Lopez rakes the walkway as members of the Conejo Recreation and Park District work finishing touches on the Healing Garden being constructed at Conejo Creek North Park in Thousand Oaks.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Conejo Recreation and Park District work finishing touches on the Healing Garden. The Borderline 12 are represented by a fountain feature with 12 vertical water jets and by 12 granite stone slab benches located along the plaza.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Conejo Recreation and Park District work finishing touches on the Healing Garden being constructed at Conejo Creek North Park.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the Conejo Recreation and Park District work finishing touches on the Healing Garden being constructed at Conejo Creek North Park.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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The victims of the Borderline shooting are remembered by a fountain feature with 12 vertical water jets and by 12 granite stone slab benches located along the plaza.  (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

They group worked through a few more songs, before fading into the night. The Borderline remains closed, so Victoria Rose and a few others have adopted The Canyon, a club in Agoura Hills, as an alternative. It allows them to get their dance fix in, though it will never feel the same as the Borderline. And they remain hopeful that the club will reopen.

“It was more than a bar,” said Diamse. “It was a place of gathering. It was like ‘Cheers.’ It was a place where everyone knows your name.”

Thousand Oaks wasted no time in memorializing the victims known as the “fallen angels.” Community leaders saw other towns delay or bicker over tributes, something the Ventura County community vowed not to do.

The tributes will continue Wednesday morning with the dedication of a stretch of the 101 Freeway to Sgt. Helus. A short time later, Cal Lutheran will hold a vigil of remembrance. On Thursday, the Healing Garden — with 12 massive granite benches for each of the victims — will be dedicated in the city park. The campus will have a structure, inviting art and compositions about healing.

By Thursday, the anniversary will have passed and Cal Lutheran wanted a final event to embrace the notion of growth and pushing forward. It chose the Line Dancing Club to lead the campus community in a mass dance-in. Victoria Rose Meek will help lead “Boots in the Park.”

To Melissa Maxwell-Doherty, the school’s long-time pastor and now Vice President for Mission and Identity, that is only fitting.

“That is meant to be a day of growing,” said Maxwell-Doherty. “Even in the midst of sorrow sometimes the seeds of hope, and even joy, are stirred.”

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Sgt. Ron Helus’ son Jordan and wife Karen appear with Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub at a ceremony to dedicate a 3.4-mile section of the 101 Freeway as the Sgt. Ron Helus Memorial Highway.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Karen Helus, right, hugs Carol Smith, 77, whose grandson Blake Dingman, 21, was killed in the massacre at Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Jordan and Karen Helus unveil a replica of the sign dedicating the 101 Freeway between Hampshire Road and Lynn Road as the Sgt. Ron Helus Memorial Highway.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Karen Helus speaks with Ken Dunham, whose son Jake Dunham, 21, was among those killed at Borderline Bar & Grill.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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A sign on the 101 Freeway in Thousand Oaks honors Sgt. Ron Helus, who was killed responding to the scene of the Borderline shooting.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), left, hugs Lorrie Dingman, whose son Blake Dingman, 21, was killed in the attack at Borderline Bar & Grill last year.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)