The Washington Post - 06.08.2019

A6 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 , 2019

mass shootings in america

BY WASHINGTON POST STAFF

Jordan Anchondo, a mother of
three, was gunned down in El
Paso while apparently trying to
shield her infant son. Nicholas P.
Cumer, a graduate student in can-
cer care, was slain in Dayton,
Ohio, as he was out with col-
leagues for a night on the town to
celebrate a summer internship.
Those are among the stories
that emerged as two cities and the
nation grappled with a pair of
mass shootings over the weekend
that left 31 dead — 22 in El Paso
and nine in Dayton.
Here are some of the stories of
those who died.

Dayton

Megan K. Betts, 22

Megan K. Betts was a stellar
student, popular with peers and
beloved by members of the Bell-
brook High School marching
band who thought of her as a big
sister, said friends and work ac-
quaintances.
Betts, 22, was the sister of the
man authorities identified as the
Dayton shooter, Connor Betts.
The violence cut short a life that
held promise, said Elizabeth
Greenawalt, whose children at-
tended Bellbrook High with Me-
gan Betts.
“She was extremely bright,
well-liked, she did extremely well
in school and she had lots of
friends,” Greenawalt said.
Zoe DeAtley, who overlapped
with Betts at Bellbrook High, said
through tears she could not be-
lieve she had lost the mentor she
looked up to throughout high
school. DeAtley performed in the
band alongside Betts, who played
the trumpet.
Betts was known among band
members for her willingness to
help anyone with anything — it
“didn’t matter if you were a fresh-
man or a senior,” DeAtley said.
And they knew to go straight to
Betts if they were in trouble or
feeling down.
“She never let anyone feel left
out,” DeAtley said.
In her free time, Betts listened
to bands such as Fall Out Boy and
Panic at the Disco, DeAtley said.
Betts was about to enter her
senior year at Wright State Uni-
versity, a spokesman for the public
university in Dayton said. She was
majoring in earth and environ-
mental sciences.
Betts spent the past few months
as a tour guide helping visitors
explore the wilds of Montana, said
Daniel Cottrell, her former super-
visor at the Missoula Smokejump-
er Visitor Center. Cottrell said
Betts was a “very positive person.”
She earned a reputation for com-
petence and was well-liked by her
peers, Cottrell said.
She also loved exploring new
places, he said, especially Mon-
tana and its culture.
When Betts left the job in Mon-
tana, Cottrell said, her mother
drove to pick her up. “I’m just sad,”
Cottrell said of the Dayton shoot-
ing. “I am just frustrated these
things keep happening in this
country.”
As DeAtley mourns, she said
she finds comfort in a picture
Betts drew of “the two of us with a
bunch of our friends.” It was a
Christmas present. “I cried when
she gave it to me, and now it
means so much more,” DeAtley
said.
— Hannah Natanson
and Rebecca Tan

Monica E. Brickhouse, 39

Monica Brickhouse grew up in
Springfield, Ohio, but moved to
Virginia decades ago, said a child-
hood friend, Farren Wilmer.
Brickhouse’s family still lives in
Springfield, and Wilmer said she
was probably visiting family in
recent days. When Wilmer saw
her old friend’s name listed
among the Dayton shooting vic-
tims, she messaged her multiple
times. Soon after, one of Brick-
house’s cousins confirmed to
Wilmer that her friend had died.
As children growing up in the
Parkwood Avenue neighborhood
in Springfield, she and Brick-
house were “joined at the hip,”
Wilmer said. In recent years, they
talked frequently over Facebook,
exchanging notes and pictures of
their children. Brickhouse,
Wilmer said, was a mother of one
and ran her own business.
“She was always funny and
smart and beautiful,” Wilmer said.
“You know how kids always say,
‘I’m going to do this’ or ‘I’m going
to do that’? Monica grew up and
actually did what she said she was
going to do. That’s the sort of
person she was.”
— Rebecca Tan

Nicholas P. Cumer, 25

Nicholas P. Cumer was a gradu-
ate student in the cancer care
master’s program at Saint Francis
University in Pennsylvania. He

was in Dayton interning as a train-

er for the Maple Tree Cancer Alli-

ance, a treatment center, accord-

ing to a statement from the or-

ganization on Facebook.

On the night of the shooting,

Cumer had been out celebrating

the end of the summer with three

fellow interns. They were stand-

ing in line at the Ned Peppers bar

when the shooter opened fire,

wounding two of them and killing

Cumer, said Tyler Erwin, 27, who

escaped unhurt.

“Nick was an extraordinary hu-

man being. He was intelligent, he

was extremely caring and kind.

He loved his patients, and he al-

ways went above and beyond for

them,” Erwin said. Cumer had

spent the summer in Columbus

and commuted an hour each

morning to the alliance’s treat-

ment center. He had never been to

downtown Dayton, so on Satur-

day night, after attending a col-

league’s housewarming party

nearby, the group of interns decid-

ed to bring him to the Oregon

District, said Erwin, a Dayton na-

tive.

“We were going to show him

one good, fun night out,” Erwin

said. “That was the plan.”

Cumer was a week away from

completing his internship, said

Karen Wonders, director of the

alliance. Last week, Wonders had

offered Cumer a full-time job run-

ning two of the organization’s new

offices. She believes he had

planned to accept the offer.

“When we were thinking of

these new centers, he was number

one on our list,” Wonders said.

While Cumer had started only in

May, Wonders said, he had devel-

oped a close relationship with

many of the center’s cancer pa-

tients.

When he was not working,

Cumer liked going to the gym, his

colleagues said.

“He was a wonderful person, a

wonderful person,” his mother,

Vicky Cumer, said in a tearful

phone interview. “He was smart

and handsome. And everybody

loved him.”

— Rebecca Tan

Derrick R. Fudge, 57

On Saturday evening, Derrick

R. Fudge went out to have a good

time with his son and soon-to-be

daughter-in-law.

Fudge, 57, of Springfield, was in

Dayton for a family reunion, his

older sister, Sherrie Fudge-

Galloway, told The Washington

Post. He was among those shot

and killed outside a bar.

“They were all just down there

enjoying themselves and had

stepped out of, I think, one of the

clubs and were in a line to get

some food,” his younger sister,

Twyla Southall, told the Dayton

Daily News.

Relatives said Fudge loved

dogs. He had a penchant for pick-

ing up strays and nursing them

back to health. He would care for

anything from giant Doberman

pinschers to tiny Chihuahuas,

they said. Years ago, Fudge adopt-

ed a blind pup when no one else

would.

“He just showed it so much

love, and to meet the dog, you

wouldn’t know he was blind,”

Fudge-Galloway said. “After that,

he responded to Derrick so well

you would’ve thought he could

see.”

The older sister recalled hard-

ships her brother had overcome.

In grade school, she said, he was

hit by a train while riding a bike.

He lost several toes, she said, and

was told he would never walk

again. But Fudge regained his

ability to walk.

“He would fight to the bitter

end. He would get knocked down,

but he would get up; he would get

right back up,” Fudge-Galloway

said. “He did this for himself. He

pushed himself. He didn’t allow

himself to be defeated.”

He is survived by his son and a

granddaughter, Fudge-Galloway

said. She said her brother will be

missed and that he “would give

you the shirt off his back.”

— Hailey Fuchs and Nick Anderson

Thomas J. McNichols, 25

Known as TeeJay, Thomas J.

McNichols was a father of four

whom an aunt described to a Day-

ton television station as a “gentle

giant.”

“Everybody loved him. He was

like a big kid,” Donna Johnson, the

aunt, told WHIO-TV. “When all of

the movies come out — ‘Batman,’

‘Black Panther’ — he would get all

his nephews and take them to the

movies.”

Johnson said McNichols lived

with her in Dayton. He attended

high school in the Ohio city and

worked in a factory there. He had

four children, she said, ages 2 to 8.

Adriana Diggs said it was un-

usual for her friend him to be in

downtown Dayton on a Saturday

night.

“He always used to tell me that

he doesn’t like going out,” Diggs

said. “He wasn’t a club person. He

liked to stay at home with family

to watch a movie or just hang out.”

McNichols was a caring friend,

Diggs said. Last year, she was

living in a shelter, and McNichols

called multiple times a week to

check on her. In recent months, he

came to her home to play video

games with her 10-year-old son,

Diggs said.

Because McNichols was so tall,

Diggs said, she often had to stand

on her bed just to give him a hug.

“This is a guy who would take

his shirt off his back for anybody,”

she said. “He didn’t deserve for his

life to be taken in this way.”

— Rebecca Tan and Nick Anderson

Lois L. Oglesby, 27

Lois L. Oglesby was a mother of

two, according to an uncle. She

had her second baby last month.

“She was a nurse’s aide and a

very devoted mother,” her uncle

Joe Oglesby said.

Derasha Merrett told the Atlan-

ta Journal-Constitution that she

and Oglesby grew up in the same

church and were on the same drill

team. Oglesby worked at a day-

care center that Merrett’s children

attend.

“We’re all family,” Merrett told

the Atlanta news outlet. “We’re all

hurting behind this.”

She described Oglesby as “a

wonderful mother, a wonderful

person,” and said, “I have cried so

much, I can’t cry any more.”

— Laurel Demkovich

Saeed Saleh, 38

Saeed Saleh, an African immi-

grant, was remembered as a kind-

hearted and hard-working per-

son.

Born in Eritrea, Saleh left his

native land as a refugee and spent

time in Sudan, Libya and Malta

before coming to the United

States three years ago with his

wife and their young daughter,

Tekeste Abraham told The Post.

Abraham, who also belongs to

Dayton’s Eritrean community,

met Saleh when he moved to Ohio.

Abraham and Yahya Khamis, a

leader in the Dayton Sudanese

community, work with immi-

grants.

Khamis called the 38-year-old

Saleh “a very humble man” who

was incredibly hard-working.

“He was really a very good guy,”

Khamis told The Post. “He loved

his family.”

Zaid Eseyas Nuguse, Saleh’s

wife, said he was devoted to their

5-year-old daughter, Randa.

When he wasn’t working, he and

Randa would play games, watch

television or take walks in the

park, Nuguse said.

“He was very well-liked by peo-

ple and [got] along with every-

body,” Nuguse said.

Saleh worked seven days a

week, often 12 to 16 hours at a

time, Abraham said. He was work-

ing to support his wife and daugh-

ter in Dayton as well as two other

children in Eritrea and a brother

in Egypt. He rarely took a day off,

Abraham said, which is why it was

so rare that he got to spend Satur-

day downtown with a friend.

“This was the one day he took off,”

Abraham said, “and this hap-

pened.”

— Laurel Demkovich

Logan M. Turner, 30

Logan M. Turner had just

turned 30 last week, his mother

told the Dayton Daily News, and

was out with friends over the

weekend when the gunman

opened fire.

“He was very generous and lov-

ing and the world’s best son,” Dan-

ita Turner told the newspaper.

“Everyone loved Logan. He was a

happy-go-lucky guy.”

Turner said her son had an

engineering degree from the Uni-

versity of Toledo and was working

as a machinist at a company in

Springboro, Ohio.

— Nick Anderson

Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis,

36

Last week, Beatrice Warren-

Curtis called her longtime friend

Ricky Brown to congratulate him

on becoming the head coach of a

high school girls basketball team

in their hometown of Wilming-

ton, Del. Brown said it was typical

of Warren-Curtis’s devoted friend-

ship.

On Monday, he was in disbelief

at the news his friend had been

killed in the Dayton shooting.

Brown met Warren-Curtis in

sixth grade in Wilmington. They

were friends throughout their

time at Delcastle Technical High

School, he said. The two spent

many days together in the school

auto shop, he recalled. In high

school, Warren-Curtis was the

first in their group of friends to get

a car, Brown recalled, and would

drive anyone wherever they need-

ed to go.

After graduation, Warren-

Curtis moved to Virginia and

Brown joined the military, but the

friends stayed in touch. They

would talk every few months to

see how life was going. They kept

up on social media and over texts.

She had called a few weeks earlier,

to congratulate Brown on his

daughter’s high school gradua-

tion.

“She was one of the most genu-

ine, caring, selfless people that

you would meet,” Brown said. “I

don’t even think I’ve ever seen her

mad at anybody. And she would

do anything for anybody without

thought or hesitation.”

He said she had a great sense of

humor, that she could always

lighten the mood and make peo-

ple smile, with sarcasm or a joke.

“She was one of my best

friends,” Brown said. “Loyal, trust-

worthy, genuine, passionate, hon-

est.”

Another friend, Otesa Mitchell

of Virginia Beach, organizes a do-

nation drive for the area’s needy

families every Christmas. Two

years ago, on a wintry evening,

Warren-Curtis asked her to come

by her new workplace.

Smiling, Warren-Curtis

popped open the trunk and back

seat of her white BMW, which

were overflowing with toys,

clothes and children’s shoes,

Mitchell, 39, recalled.

“Usually, people donate one or

two presents, but what Bea did

was above and beyond,” she said.

Warren-Curtis — who went by

“Bea” — was unmarried and had

no children, Mitchell said, but was

known among friends for her gen-

erosity. She would volunteer to

buy drinks for her friends on their

birthdays, and when the school

year approached, she would post

to social media asking families in

need to reach out to her if they had

trouble affording supplies.

“She was always that special

auntie to her friends’ kids,” Mitch-

ell said.

— Morgan Krakow

El Paso

Jordan Anchondo, 25,

and Andre Anchondo, 24

For Jordan and Andre Anchon-

do of El Paso, Saturday was meant

to be a day of celebration.

The couple had just marked

their first wedding anniversary,

according to Andre’s older broth-

er, Tito Anchondo. Their oldest

daughter was turning 6, Tito An-

chondo said, and the couple was

ready to show off their new house.

Friends and family were invited to

a big party on Saturday, but the

Anchondos never made it.

On Saturday, after dropping the

6-year-old off at cheerleading

practice, the Anchondos headed

with their infant son to a Walmart

for school supplies and party dec-

orations. There, a gunman opened

fire, killing 25-year-old Jordan.

The moment he heard about

the shooting, Tito Anchondo be-

gan calling his brother and sister-

in-law but got no response. Sev-

eral hours later, he received a call

from authorities, who asked him

to identify Jordan. He said he

rushed to the hospital with the

rest of his family to find Jordan,

who had died, and his infant

nephew, who survived but had

several broken bones. Andre was

not there.

On Sunday night, family mem-

bers confirmed to The Post that

Andre had been killed, too.

Andre, 24, had just started to

turn his life around, Tito said. The

El Paso native had been in a rut for

a few years, but that changed

when he met Jordan.

“She was his support system,”

Tito said. “When he met Jordan, it

gave him more reason to get on

track with his life.”

In 2018, Andre left the family

auto-repair business to set up his

own shop, Andre House of Granite

and Stone. Business had been

good for his brother, Tito said.

In his free time, Andre worked

to build a house for his young

family, laboring under the Texas

sun hours at a time to get every-

thing just right.

Jordan was a stay-at-home

mother of three, Tito said: The

6-year-old and 1-year-old daugh-

ters were from earlier relation-

ships, and she had the 2-month-

old with Andre. Jordan’s sister,

Leta Jamrowski, told the Associ-

ated Press that based on the baby’s

injuries, it appeared that Jordan

died while trying to shield the

baby from the shooter.

“He pretty much lived because

she gave her life,” Jamrowski, 19,

told the AP.

“We’re angry, we’re sad,” Tito

said. “There’s disbelief. There are

just no words.”

— Rebecca Tan and Meagan Flynn

Arturo Benavides, 60

Arturo Benavides lived for his

family, his dog and pineapple up-

side-down cake.

He was running an errand Sat-

urday with his wife, Patricia Bena-

vides. The El Paso couple were

almost out of the Walmart, paying

for their groceries at a register,

when a gunman opened fire, ac-

cording to a great-niece.

Someone pushed Patricia Bena-

vides, 63, into a bathroom stall

and she was able to get away

unhurt, accompanied by police,

said Jacklin Luna, the great-niece.

Arturo Benavides, 60, did not es-

cape.

His extended family gathered

and waited in agony for hours

until they heard official word Sun-

day morning: Benavides “wasn’t

able to make it out,” Luna, 23, said

through tears in an interview with

SEE VICTIMS ON A

In Dayton and El Paso, stories of those lost to shootings

MICHAEL ROBINSON CHAVEZ/THE WASHINGTON POST

Candles, flowers and dedications are left at an impromptu memorial outside the Walmart where a gunman killed 22 on Saturday in El Paso. Another mass shooting, this

one in downtown Dayton, Ohio, left nine dead early Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 31.