Friends recall Florence Donovan-Gunderson; witness describes shooting as tragedy hits South Lake Tahoe

A gunman who opened fire inside a Carson City restaurant has torn a hole through the South Lake Tahoe community, taking the life of a long-time local woman, maiming her disabled husband, and sending shock waves in the community after learning the gunman has family business ties in town.
The brutal murder that happened inside the International House of Pancakes this week claimed the lives of three U.S. Army National Guard personnel and Lake Tahoe Keys resident Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67. Shooter Eduardo Sencion, 32, of Carson City turned the automatic weapon he was packing on himself and left both communities stunned and asking questions about why such a senseless act of violence happened.

“We have two communities, Carson City and South Lake Tahoe, who have experienced a tragic loss of life,” South Lake Tahoe Mayor Hal Cole said. “This horrible event hits so close to home. Our hearts and our prayers go to all families in both communities.”

As investigators continue to piece together what happened during the several-minute shooting spree, in which Sencion sprayed bullets inside and outside the IHOP restaurant, what is left are portraits of the four innocent bystanders who lost their lives. Among those who died besides Donovan-Gunderson are:

— Major Heath Kelly, 35, Reno, decorated field artillery officer, husband and father, commander of Joint Force Headquarters in Carson City, Iraqi veteran and avid student of military history known for his dry sense of humor.
— Sgt. 1st Class Christian Riege, 38, Carson City, father of three, served in Afghanistan and also served in U.S Navy for two years before joining the Guard.
— Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, 31, Reno, owner of a small baking company, well known for providing cupcakes for guard functions.

“Florrie was a incredible woman”
Florence Donovan-Gunderson and her husband Wally Gunderson, who retired from the U.S. Marines, split their time between Southern California and their home in the Tahoe Keys. The couple was having breakfast at IHOP when the gunman shattered their lives forever.

Friends of Florence, who was fondly known as “Florrie,” speak of an energetic, dynamic and passionate woman who deeply cared about them, South Lake Tahoe, and its people. Florrie volunteered where she could and loved to be around folks who brought ideas and conversation to the table, friends remembered. When she wasn’t working in financial services around town before she retired, she was spending her time doing things for others such as making clothing accessories, knitting and cooking food to take to friends. 

Wally Gunderson, who was wounded in the shooting, was hit in the thigh and is recovering at Renown Medical Center in Reno, family members said. 

Suzy Krzaczek, a teacher at South Tahoe Middle School, said her family and Donovan-Gunderson’s family have been close friends for more than 30 years. She said that at the hospital, Wally asked police officers to call her mother, Carole Sare to ask her to take care of the couple’s dog.

“She was the most vivacious woman I’ve ever met. She had the energy of a 20-year-old. She was an incredible woman,” Krzaczek said of Florrie. 
For Carole Sare, Florrie was much more than a friend, but a family member. When Carole’s husband, South Shore attorney Dale Sare died in 2008 of cancer, it was Florrie and Wally who were there to help her along during the painful grieving process.

“When I lost my husband I wanted to crawl into a hole. But there was no way that Florrie would let this happen. She and Wally were with me through this and had it not been for her, I may have not gotten out of it the way I did,” Sare said, adding that sadly “I will be with Wally and will help him in any way I can to get him through this. He was there for me as much as Florrie was.” 

When the couple wasn’t in Tahoe, they were traveling back and forth to Southern California where they spent time in San Diego. For the past few years, the couple had split their time, spending summers at Tahoe and winters in San Diego. Wally, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, had sought a warmer climate during the hard Tahoe winters and decided a few years ago to spend time between each area. Sare and the couple had been planning a trip this fall to Monterey and spoke about it on Labor Day, the night before the shooting. They had also visited Sare at her home about a week before the shooting. 

The couple traveled, but always considered Tahoe their primary home, Sare said. The couple were married at Fallen Leaf Lake about eight years ago and actually met about 25 years ago when Florrie worked at one of the South Shore casinos.

“These two people really changed my life after my husband died,” Carole Sare said. “Florrie wouldn’t let me get sad and when I was, she was always there to pick me up.”

On Wednesday, Sare brought the couple’s dog to visit Wally in the hospital. The service dog, a poodle, also served as a guide for Wally who is in a wheelchair because of his disabling disease.

“He’s absolutely devastated beyond words,” Sare said of Wally when she met him at the hospital.
 Suzy Krzaczek said she’s known Florrie for years and was friends with her daughters, both now living in Southern California. 

“I’ll always remember her as being full of life. She had a lot more living to do. This is so unfair,” she said. 
Family friend Scott Shehadi told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Florrie had recently delivered knitted winter caps she made herself for Shehadi’s sons. 

Kind, compassionate, upbeat and always friendly, Donovan-Gunderson was always thinking and doing things for others, Shehadi told the RGJ. 
“It was just a grandma thing to do. That’s her,” Shehadi said. 

“Florrie and Wally were at mom’s last week for dinner and brought me a coat for my son and me leftover carrot cake. I still have the dish,” Krzaczek said tearfully, describing the couple as “very giving people.” 

While the national spotlight has been on the U.S. National Guard personnel who lost their lives, Krzaczek and Sare said they want everyone to know what a truly wonderful woman Florrie was and that she brought great light and laughter to her South Lake Tahoe friends. 

In the hours following the deadly mass shooting, and before authorities publicly released the names of the victims, Florrie was referred to as a “female civilian” in the press. Those moments were disheartening, Krzaczek and Sare said.

“What happened to these members of the military is so tragic and we’re all mourning the loss of life among these people who served their country. I just want everyone to know, and I want the people of South Lake Tahoe to know that Florrie was an incredible woman.”

Florrie lived in South Lake Tahoe since 1979 and owned a condominium in the Lake Tahoe Keys. Friends say she was on the board on the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association and even ran for the South Tahoe Public Utility District in 1997 against current board member Jim Jones, who was an incumbent. In that election, she raised about $600 and ran on several platforms, including bottling STUPD water and selling it to visitors. 

“She was a very nice woman who ran a very clean campaign. She never was into mudslinging and said that she and Jim were friendly rivals,” recalled Kathy Sharp, clerk of the board. At a October 21, 1997 candidates forum, Florrie said this about why she was running: “Women sustain. We need more women” on local boards, recalls Sharp from notes she took from the forum.  

Frantic phone call
South Lake Tahoe resident Cynthia Cervera was asleep when the phone began to ring. She missed the call, but picked up a message on her answering machine. She heard her mother, Patricia Lizarraga, hysterically ask for help. She left a frantic message stating that she was underneath a table, blood was everywhere, that people were shot in the head and dying.

“They killed them. They’ve been shot,” was the message on the voice mail. “I couldn’t understand what exactly she was saying, but what I did understand is that she was underneath a table and people were dead.” 

The 23-year-old woman, who works at the Adidas store and at Push Fitness, said she immediately tried calling her mother back and didn’t get an answer and so called her sister, who said she had just spoken to their mother, who raised she and her seven sisters in South Lake Tahoe before she moved to Carson City two years ago.

Cervera’s sister, Toni, told her that their mother had just witnessed a mass shooting and that several people were dead.

Patricia Lizarraga spoke to the Tahoe Mountain News about what happened. After leaving South Lake Tahoe to find work in Carson City, she eats once a week at the IHOP and always sits at her favorite table in the back. When she walked in, she saw the National Guard personnel sitting at the table. She immediately thought of her daughter, Norma, a U.S. Air Force recruiter who lives in Sacramento.

“I saw them and passed them and smiled,” she said. “Every time I see people in uniform, I think about what they do for our country and I think of my daughter Norma and why she loves and serves our country.”

Lizarraga ordered strawberry crepes and coffee and began eating when she heard the shots. She said a waitress yelled to everyone to get under their tables. “I heard the shots and saw her come out and then all I heard was shots. I called 911, and couldn’t get through. I started calling my daughters. That’s all I was thinking about. I didn’t know if I was going to die, but I just wanted to talk to my daughters,” she said. 

She left the message on Cynthia’s phone as the shooter left the restaurant, but she could still hear shots outside. When she got out from under the table, she saw the dead National Guard personnel, who were shot in the head. She saw Florence Donovan-Gunderson and Wally on the floor, and people began to help them.

“There was so many people hurt I didn’t know what to do, she said. “When I heard the sirens, I didn’t feel safe. When the police were there, I didn’t feel safe. And right now I still don’t feel safe.”

She doesn’t know any of the victims, or “that crazy” gunman, Sencion, though “he looks familiar.” Since the shooting, she has tried to find perspective, going back to work the next day. But she is traumatized and not able to sleep.

“I want so much to be able to stop thinking about this. But it just comes up all the time. I will be working and I will hear the gunshots and see all the blood. I think about some of the children I saw in the restaurant when I walked in and wonder how they’re doing. I’m thinking of the families and wondering how they are doing. It so sad.”

Her children, who now live away from home, have been counseling her. She said she had to take medicine to sleep for a few nights after the shooting. “I’ve tried to rest, but I can’t stop hearing the bullets,” she said. 

Gunman had ties to South Lake Tahoe
Why Sencion apparently lost his mind and killed four people and himself remains a mystery and is still under investigation. His history in South Lake Tahoe is also sketchy. He was said to be part owner, along with his two brothers, of the Mi Pueblo market. People who knew him described him as quiet and not one to smoke or drink. Troubles, though, were apparent. Family members told Carson City authorities that Sencion suffered mental health problems. South Lake Tahoe police placed Sencion in protective custody during a mental health check in April 2000. He had no criminal history. 

Since the mass murder happened in Nevada and Sencion lived in Carson City, but traveled to the family business in California, how he obtained the weapons used in the shooting is not known. He was carrying two AK-47 style automatic weapons and a handgun.

Sencion filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009. His former lawyer in Carson City and Reno, Joe Laub, said he was surprised to learn Sencion was identified as the gunman.

Laub told the Associated Press the shooting was an “aberration of his character” and called him a kind man who was “very helpful to friends and family.” Also undetermined is if he held any animosity toward the military. Ironically, the vehicle he was driving the day of the shooting, which belonged to a family member, had a yellow “support our troops” sticker on it. 

“I couldn’t venture to guess what would cause him to do something as horrible as this,” Laub said.