By Saeed Villanueva |Staff Writer|
A year after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the city continues to work with the community to build awareness and ensure public safety.
On Dec. 2, San Bernardino and CSUSB is partnering together to host an event called “Honor. Reflect. Rebuild,” in the Coussoulis Arena at 6 p.m., which would mark the one year anniversary of the tragic mass shooting.
The terrorist attack that took the lives of 14 people while severely injuring 22 others, happened at the Inland Regional Center off of South Waterman Avenue last December.
The attack was one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. soil.
“Honor. Reflect. Rebuild” isn’t only an event to remember the victims, it is also a gathering to shine light on ways the community can remain safe in situations like this.
The event is going to gather a variety of different communities from San Bernardino County.
“We will have multiple speakers representing public safety as well as speakers from various religious denominations. This is very much a collaborative effort from multiple partners including San Manuel, CSUSB, Valley College, SBCUSD, and others,” stated Chief of Staff of San Bernardino Christopher Lopez.
Since the attack occurred, law enforcement have been working with local schools and business on what to do if another attack happens.
“We work closely with the San Bernardino police department. They’ve done active shooter training’s where the kids reenact a scene of a shooter on campus and groups of students are trained to take the perpetrator down to avoid more casualties,” said Alumni Jasmine Luna, who works at Public Safety Academy of San Bernardino which was only five minutes away from the shootings.
The county has also been working with the community to educate people on the Islamic religion.
Recently the University of Redlands and the Redlands Area Interfaith Council partnered up together to host a discussion Saturday Nov. 19 on unity and peace.
The event was called “Bridges of Peace from Shadows of Grief,” it featured well respected theologian Miroslav Volf.
Volf is a scholar from Croatia who is Christian. He studies conflict and peace building, and works to strengthen religious groups who are in strife.
The pursuit of “truth” or the belief that one’s religion is right and another’s wrong often impedes understanding and coalition-building, said Volf according to Redlandsdailyfacts.com
Volf encouraged spiritual leaders in attendance to unite with those in the “middle” to combat further polarization.
The mass shooting not only impacted San Bernardino but the entire country.
It also brought more attention to the issue of gun control in the nation.
Because of the shooting state lawmakers initially approved five gun control bills back in April, according to the LA Times.
These bills included a measure that would ban assault rifles with detachable magazines like the one that was used in the killings, and would force all homemade guns to be registered with the state.
People will always remember where they were when they first heard about what was going on.
“They had the mall on lockdown until it was cleared and then they closed down the entire mall for the day. At first people were clueless as to what was going on until they announced what happened then people got scared,“ stated Alumni Byron Doss, who was working at the Inland Center Mall at the time.
Honor. Reflect. Rebuild will be free to the public and anybody is welcomed to come and show their support.
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