Recent Napa high school grad among those killed in Thousand Oaks mass shooting

An 18-year-old Napa native who was a freshman at Pepperdine University was identified Thursday by her family as one of at least 12 people killed by a gunman at a Southern California bar Wednesday night.

“Sister, Sister” actress and talk show host Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband, former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley, issued a statement identifying their niece, Alaina Housley, as a shooting victim at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks.

“Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner,” according to the statement.

Also, a college friend reported Housley, a spring graduate of Napa’s Vintage High School, missing on Twitter following the mass shooting where a gunman fired several rounds inside the bar during a country music night sometime before midnight, authorities said.

Another victim with area ties is Camarillo resident Cody Coffman, 22, who has grandparents who live in Clearlake. His father, Jason Coffman, told reporters Thursday his son was among those killed in the Thousands Oaks bar.

Coffman said his son had a passion for baseball and was looking forward to meeting his sister, who has not yet been born. Jan Coffman, a Clearlake Oaks woman who identified herself on Facebook as Coffman’s grandmother, asked friends and family in a Thursday morning post to pray for her grandson, who was not answering his phone after heading Wednesday to the Borderline club where the shooting occurred.

A call by a Press Democrat reporter to a number listed in her name, as well as messages to her Facebook page, were not returned Thursday.

Meanwhile, Napa Valley Unified School District Superintendent Rosanna Mucetti and Pepperdine University officials issued statements after the Thousand Oaks attack, each offering support to the Housley family.

Before enrolling at Pepperdine, Housley had attended schools in the Napa Valley school district: Vintage High School; Silverado Middle School; Vichy Elementary School; and Yountville Elementary School, Mucetti said.

“There are no words that are sufficient at a time like this, but we remain a strong, caring community who will join together to enfold the Housleys and their friends with support,” Mucetti said in a statement.

Housley was an honor student through four years of high school, played on the high school’s varsity soccer team and was in the school orchestra, district spokeswoman Elizabeth Emmett said.

Counselors and chaplains were dispatched Thursday to the high school, as well as other schools she attended, following the news of Housley’s death, Emmett said.

Housley’s mother, Hannah Housley, works as the activities director for the Napa school district and was en route to Southern California on Thursday, Emmett said.

She and her husband, Arik Housley, own the Ranch Markets in Yountville and Napa, state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, said in a statement Thursday. Housley also had a brother, Alex, according to the school district.

“Last night, Alaina Housley and her friends headed to go line dancing,” Arik Housley wrote in a Facebook post Thursday morning. “We haven’t heard from her please keep her in your prayers.”

Marine Corps veteran Ian David Long, 28, was identified by authorities Thursday as the suspect in Wednesday’s mass shooting. He died at the scene from what officials called an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A Glock 21 .45-caliber outfitted with an extended magazine, was found at the scene and believed to have been used in the killings,Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told the New York Times.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus also died in the shooting, struck by gunfire when he responded to the bar with a CHP officer minutes after the initial 911 calls.