5 years later, Nevada National Guard soldiers remember comrades killed in IHOP shooting

By KEITH ROGERS and SEAN WHALEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

8 years ago

Emergency personnel respond to a shooting at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011. Seven people were wounded after a gunman opened fire at the restaurant, authorities said. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

A private security firm now patrols the IHOP in Carson City, Nev., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2011, following Tuesday’s shooting that ended with five people dead, including the gunman, and seven wounded. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

Gov. Brian Sandoval, left, chats with Brig. Gen. Michael Hanifan in Carson City before the memorial run for the National Guard and other victims of the 2011 Carson City IHOP shooting. The run/walk was held Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Sean Whaley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Christine Woomer with Mikaela, left, and Hannah, in the stroller, wait in the chilly air with Evelyn Anderson in Carson City for the IHOP memorial run on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Sean Whaley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mikaela, 2, left and Hannah Woomer, 14 months old, are bundled up for the IHOP memorial run on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Carson City. Sean Whaley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Brig. Gen. Michael Hanifan talks to guard members and others before the IHOP memorial run on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Carson City. Sean Whaley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Memorial run organizer Laura Boldry, who knew the guard victims of the IHOP shooting, leads others on the run on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Carson City. Sean Whaley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Master Sgt. Christian Riege. (Handout Image)

Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney. (Handout Image)

Lt. Col. Heath Kelly. (Handout Image)

Nevada Army National Guard soldiers from the 17th Sustainment Brigade participate, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in a 5K memorial run at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait for three soldiers who were killed Sept. 6, 2011 in a shooting rampage at the Carson City, Nevada IHOP restaurant. Staff Sgt. Victor Joecks courtesy photo

Nevada Army National Guard soldiers from the 17th Sustainment Brigade pose for a photo, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in a 5K memorial run at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait for three soldiers who were killed Sept. 6, 2011 in a shooting rampage at the Carson City, Nevada IHOP restaurant. Staff Sgt. Victor Joecks courtesy photo

Five years after a gunman killed three Nevada Army National Guard soldiers and a civilian at a Carson City IHOP, soldiers there and 8,000 miles away in Kuwait ran 5-kilometer memorial runs Tuesday in memory of the victims of the still unexplained tragedy.

Organizers said the runs were intended to help surviving members of the victims’ unit and their families remember the fallen and take another step in the healing process.

“Today is all about them,” Gov. Brian Sandoval said of the three Guard soldiers killed in the Sept. 6, 2011, shooting, Master Sgt. Christian Riege, 38; Lt. Col. Heath Kelly, 35; and Sgt. 1st Class Miranda McElhiney, 31. “As we run and walk and make our way to the Guard center, every step of the way let’s think about them and their families.”

More than 200 soldiers from Nevada’s 17th Sustainment Brigade did their running and remembering at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, where the unit is now deployed.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Edward Holler recalled hearing the news of the shooting from inside the Office of the Adjutant General, which is about 4 miles from the IHOP.

“You don’t think it’s going to happen in your life but it does,” he said in a Skype interview from Kuwait. “It turns families upside down. It definitely affected the Nevada National Guard. These were great people. These were good soldiers. They did good stuff for the community. They believed in what they did.”

Command Sgt. Maj. James A. Richardson, who served with all three victims and had just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan with Riege, said the loss of life so far from the battlefield hit him hard.

“It was just a tragic thing,” Richardson said. “We didn’t lose anyone on deployment and he (Riege) was probably the third or fourth soldier that ended up lost in post-deployment to just various motorcycle accidents or that type of thing. Just tragic, tragic accidents.”

The reasons for the shooting by Eduardo Sencion, which also took the life of civilian Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, have never been explained.

Sencion opened fire with a variant of an AK-47 rifle in the restaurant before killing himself in the parking lot. Sencion’s family later acknowledged that the 32-year-old man, who had worked at the family’s business in South Lake Tahoe, had a history of mental illness. It is unclear whether he targeted Riege, Kelly and McElhiney because they were uniformed members of the military.

Maj. Laura Boldry, who worked with the three fallen soldiers, organized the Carson City run which Guard officials said drew about 40 soldiers.

“I do this in remembrance of their spirit and to bring them back home, because they never made it back from the IHOP,” she said.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Follow him on Twitter @seanw801 Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2