Man Who Survived Las Vegas Massacre Died in Thousand Oaks Shooting

Telemachus Orfanos, one of the 12 victims in Wednesday night's mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Telemachus Orfanos, one of the 12 victims in Wednesday night's mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, was a survivor of the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

After Orfanos was identified as one of the victims of the shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill, his mother, Susan Orfanos, pleaded for better gun control.

"My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends and he came home. He didn't come home last night, and I don't want prayers," Susan Orfanos told KABC in a tearful interview. "I don't want thoughts. I want gun control, and I hope to God nobody sends me anymore prayers. I want gun control. No more guns."

"I have two words: gun control," Susan Orfanos later told BuzzFeed News. "Now, now, now, now. No more NRA. No more money. Gun control now."

Orfans was known to friends as "Tel" and was "the sweetest guy," Marybeth Schroeder told HuffPost. She said Organis often worked as a security guard at the bar, but was there on Wednesday for a "night out with friends."

According to his Facebook page, Orfanos served in the U.S. Navy, and attended Thousand Oaks High School and Moorpark College.

Orfanos was not the only survivor of the Oct. 1, 2017 shooting during the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, where 58 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Borderline became a popular hangout for Route 91 survivors who lived in Southern California.

"A lot of people in the Route 91 situation go here," Chandler Gunn, 23, told The Los Angeles Times. "There's people that live a whole lifetime without seeing this, and then there's people that have seen it twice."

Carl Edgar, who said he was not at the bar Wednesday night, told the Times he had many who were there and also survived the Las Vegas shooting.

"As far as I know, all of my friends are OK, safe," Edgar said. "There are a few people we can't get a hold of, but in these situations people usually turn off their phones to be safe so I'm not gonna get too worried. A lot of my friends survived Route 91. If they survived that, they'll survive this."

The identities for many of the other victims have already been released. One victim was Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus, who was killed after he entered the bar and was called a hero by his colleagues. Alaina Housley, the niece of actress Tamera Mowry-Housley, was also killed.

The gunman in Wednesday night's shooting was identified as Ian David Long, 28. Authorities said he used a legally-purchased handgun and was found dead in the bar.

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