Public mourning on the 10th anniversary of the San Bernardino mass shooting started early on Dec. 2 outside a memorial to the memories of those killed in the attack.
About 100 people gathered Tuesday morning near the Curtain of Courage memorial on the grounds of the San Bernardino County Government Center. The crowd was a little larger than in recent years, with family members of the victims joining county staff to pay respects to those who died in the shooting the morning of Dec. 2, 2015. Thirteen of the 14 people killed in the attack were San Bernardino County employees.
“The passage of time does not lessen the impact of that day,” Supervisor Curt Hagman told the crowd during a brief ceremony.
On Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino County restaurant inspector Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Mailk, opened fire on a Division of Environmental Health Services meeting held at a rented conference room at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. Fourteen people were killed, including 13 of Farook’s coworkers. Twenty-two more were injured. Farook and Malik were killed hours later in a shootout with police.
In 2022, San Bernardino County opened its Curtain of Courage memorial for those murdered in the mass shooting to the public.
The memorial is an undulating mesh of bronze and steel, meant to evoke a bulletproof vest. The curves create create 14 alcoves, one for each of those killed in the shooting. The alcoves have a panel of colored glass in a shade chosen by victims’ family members, and a phrase chosen by family members is inscribed on a bench in each alcove. Inside each bench, invisible to the public, is a small keepsake chosen by the family. A nearby informational plaque recounts the events of Dec. 2, 2015, in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
County Assessor Josie Gonzales, who served on the Board of Supervisors at the time of the shooting, said the attack created a “painful scar” community members still bear.
“Think of all the people who are not here,” Gonzales told the crowd. “Their pain may be too much for them to handle.
“We never give up, we never back down,” she added. “May we honor those that are lost by living with the same courage and compassion this community has shown for the past 10 years.”
Then the names of the 14 slain in the attack were read aloud, each punctuated by the ringing of a newly commissioned bell.
A simple, county-run public ceremony took place online shortly after, with a moment of silence and a memorial video.
The county’s memorial opened six years after a simpler memorial at Cal State San Bernardino opened in 2016. Five of the 14 people killed in the attack were graduates of the university.
The Peace Garden features a five-sided memorial located beside the school’s Chemical Sciences Building. A bell atop the memorial has a clapper only during a memorial ceremony each Dec. 2, when the bell is rung 14 times, once for each victim of the terrorist attack.
There are seven other memorials to individual victims of the shooting around the Inland Empire, one each in Colton, Lake Arrowhead, Norco, Rialto and Upland and two in Fontana.
More about the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting
- Peace garden at Cal State San Bernardino dedicated to Dec. 2 terror attack victims
- Memorial for victims of San Bernardino terror attack now open
- Why did the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting happen?
- 10 years later, memories of San Bernardino terrorist attack still fresh
- Scars, trauma remain 10 years after San Bernardino terrorist attack
- Where to remember victims of 2015 San Bernardino terror attack