South Lake Tahoe man reflects on the 13 years since deadly IHOP shooting took his daughter

It has now been 13 years since Kenneth Curtzwiler lost his daughter SFC Miranda Summerwind McElhiney in the IHOP mass shooting in Carson City, Nev. She was one of four people who lost their lives that day, September 6, 2011. The shooting also left seven people injured.

Curtwiler, a retired Nevada Army National Guard major, reflected Friday morning on the 13th anniversary of the Carson City IHOP shooting. Several Nevada Guard soldiers were at the IHOP that day to plan observances for the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Along with McElhiney, the Nevada Guard victims included Lt. Col. Heath Kelly and Master Sgt. Christian Riege. Florence Donovan-Gunderson of South Lake Tahoe also died in the random shooting.

The lone gunman, Eduardo Sencion, who was 32 at the time, took his own life.

Kenneth Curtzwiler knows the meaning of loss of life as well as the importance of remembrance. He said the shooting came out of the blue, out of left field.

Curtzwiler revealed he met McElhiney’s mother in 1979 at Sahara Tahoe, but the couple separated, but years whizzed by without him seeing his daughter. Midway through his 20-year National Guard career, Curtzwiler said he reported to the Plumb Lane Armory in Reno to take a physical before attending winter training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center northwest of Bridgeport, Calif. The physical took on a coincidental twist when Curtzwiler began questioning the medical specialist about her mother. The soldier, it turned out, was his daughter, Miranda, who had enlisted in the Nevada Guard in 1988.

“We spent the next 10 years getting to know each other, and I was actually her commander at one time,” said Curtzwiler, adding not many people knew.

When he heard of the news of the IHOP shooting and what transpired, he expressed his shock.

“It was like a punch in the gut,” he recalled.

Curtzwiler, though, referred to the Army ethos of never leaving a fallen comrade behind. He cited how the Carson City community and the Nevada National Guard came together like family to deal with the tragedy.

Lily Hansen, an outstanding high-school and university athlete, was born to McElhiney, a teenage mother who then put the baby up for adoption. Sept. 6, though, will forever be etched in Hansen’s mind. It was a carefree day for her until her adoptive mother said they needed to talk.

“Miranda was shot, and she didn’t make it,” Lily was told.

“All I wanted to do was run. I wanted to run. I wanted to fight,” the shocked Hansen recounted.

Just the year before Miranda's death, Curtzwiler lost his son Kaleb James Martin Curtzwiler. He died on August 9, 2010, at the age of 28. Kaleb spent five years with the USS BARRY DDG-52 and was a decorated soldier earning the Navy And Marine Corps Achievement Medal.