Victims of 2011 mass shooting in Carson City honored with memorial run
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Wed, 09/06/2017 - 12:20pm
Around two dozen runners and walkers remembered the victims of a mass shooting in Carson City that happened six years ago Wednesday in which five people died, including three Nevada National Guardsmen.
On Sept. 6, 2011, Nevada Guardsmen Lt. Col. Heath Kelly, 35, Master Sgt. Christian Riege, 38, and Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, 31, were killed in a shooting at the south Carson City International House of Pancakes. Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, of South Lake Tahoe, was also killed and her husband injured. The shooter, a man suffering from mental illness, turned the gun on himself.
All three of the soldiers worked at the Office of the Adjutant General on Fairview Drive in Carson City.
“We remember that day, a very sad day six years ago when our soldiers lost their lives here,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Hanifan in remarks ahead of the run. “This event is to help bring them back home. It is our memorial for them,” he said.
“There are fewer of us in the Guard now who remember them. For those of us who do remember, they will always be in our minds and in our hearts,” Hanifan concluded.
Sgt. First Class Jeremiah Mock, who was at the restaurant with the three Guardsman and was injured in the shooting, said the memorial run is for those families and friends who lost loved ones.
“It’s important to come out to this run. It touched everyone here in the National Guard in Nevada, the community here in Carson City and the Reno-Sparks community,” Mock said.
Run organizer Laura Boldry, a major with the Nevada Army National Guard, said the memorial run is something that will continue as a tribute to Kelly, Riege and McElhiney and for Florence Donovan-Gunderson.
“They live with us in memory, this is for them,” she said.
South Shore Lake Tahoe resident Ken Curtzwiler (pictured in the fourth frame of photos above) whose daughter Miranda McElhiney was among the three National Guard members killed, has participated in each of the memorial runs. He carries with him a plaque with his daughter’s name on it and an American Flag presented to him by the National Guard.
“As long as we are there we will never forget, we will always remember,” said Curtzwiler, adding that he not only runs for his daughter’s memory and the two other Guardsman, but also for the family of Florence Donovan-Gunderson.
Major Alan Callanan, 70, who served 36 years in the service and world for the Army National Guard, has also participated in all five of the Sept. 6 memorial events.
“I run to honor those who we have lost and the civilian we lost. I run in their memory,” said Callanan.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong noted that he has seen the same runners and walkers return year after year. He said the impacts of the events that day have touched the Nevada National Guard, families and friends, the Carson City community and those who worked at the restaurant.
“I can’t imagine what the workers went through. Some of them are still working here,” said Furlong.
“We’ve come along way since then in recognizing the mental health impact. And we continue to see it still to this day. Every effort we give, we find more people who are in crisis. Mental health is a top priority for us. We deal with it every day so we don’t have something like this happen again,” said Furlong.
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