Nevada National Guard, Gov. Sandoval remember IHOP shooting victims in memorial run

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval joined more than two dozen soldiers and airman, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and families Saturday to pay respects by jogging in a memorial run in Carson City to commemorate the four victims who died at the International House of Pancakes shooting on Sept. 6, 2011.

Shooting survivor Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Mock and Gen. Michael Hanifan, commander of the Nevada Guard, led the pack of runners and walkers on the 5K route from the restaurant to the Guard complex on Fairview Drive in Carson City.

Three years ago, Sept. 6, 2011, Nevada Guardsmen Lt. Col. Heath Kelly, 35, Master Sgt. Christian Riege, 38, and Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, 31, and civilian Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, of South Lake Tahoe, were killed in a shooting rampage, in which the mentally ill gunman, Eduardo Sencion, took his own life.

This was the first memorial run for Gov. Sandoval. Three months after the shooting, Sandoval and Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong were the first ones in line when IHOP re-opened, a significant moment as the Nevada Guard and the Carson City community was still coming to terms with what happened.
“I’m here to continue to show my support for the Guard, the families and the victims of this tragedy,” said Sandoval, ahead of the 6 a.m. run.
Capt. Laura Boldry with the Nevada Army National Guard, who worked alongside Kelly, Riege and McElhiney, said her hope is to keep this run going every year to remember the soldiers and civilians who didn’t survive the tragic day.

“Last year I said we are carrying their spirits back to the Armory. I believe their spirits live among us. Let’s show how we still honor the bonds we had with them and how new bonds have formed because of them as we start our run and walk this year,” said Boldry in prayer, naming the four who died and noting the gunman, Sencion, “due to mental illness.”
Sgt. Caitlin Kelley, 25, of Reno was shot in the foot and Mock suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm. Florence Gunderson's husband, Wally Gunderson, a retired U.S. Marine Corps member, was among seven others injured.

From South Lake Tahoe, Ken Curtzwiler, father of McElhiney and a member of the Nevada Army National Guard for 21 years, spoke with Gen. Hanifan briefly, noting all three of the guard members had come back home. Curtzwiler also lost his son, Kaleb James Martin Curtzwiler, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan.