Most of the 14 people killed at a holiday banquet in San Bernardino County worked in the same county public health department as the man who authorities say showed up with his wife and sprayed the hall with gunfire. An official list of the dead was still being prepared Thursday, but families, friends and co-workers came forward to share some of their stories.
Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, identified as a Messianic Jew and passionately defended Israel, actively debating about religion in online forums and in person, his friends said. Only two weeks ago, Thalasinos was having a heated on-the-job discussion about the nature of Islam with Syed Rizwan Farook, his fellow restaurant inspector and the man police identified as the shooter.
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Thalasinos' friend, Kuuleme Stephens, told The Associated Press that she happened to call him while he was working with Farook, and that he brought her into their debate, loudly declaring that Farook "doesn't agree that Islam is not a peaceful religion." She heard Farook counter that Americans don't understand Islam, and Thalasinos responded by saying "I don't know how to talk with him," she said.
Stephens said she didn't sense any pending violence at the time, and it is not clear if their debates factored in the attack. Stephens said Thalasinos did not believe his co-worker would ever turn violent.
However, Stephens said his grieving wife told her later Thursday to tell the media that she now "believes her husband was martyred for his faith and beliefs." It wasn't immediately clear why Jennifer Thalasinos came to that conclusion.
Nicholas and Jennifer Thalasinos had recently renewed their marriage vows, and they appeared together frequently on his Facebook page.
"He was a wonderful person," said Joey Shimoni, another friend. "A great husband and just a sweet soul."
Daniel Kaufman, 42, ran an independently owned coffee shop inside the Inland Regional Center where the county health workers were using a hall for their holiday banquet. The shop's workers included people with developmental disabilities, which can include epilepsy, autism and intellectual disabilities.
His death was confirmed by Eileen Richey, the executive director of the Association of Regional Center Agencies, who said his death "fills us with sorrow, knowing so many families are in mourning."
Kaufman, 42, was an avid participant in the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California each spring, said friend Katherine Panowicz, who had known him for 15 years.
She said he typically participated in parades, carrying either a pennant or a lance on a make-believe horse. The fair community is devastated to lose a friend with such a big smile, she said.
"It would change the entire environment of a room just because he had a big brilliant smile," she said.
Isaac Gebreslassie, 60, was a supervising environmental health specialist. A witness told the USA Today Network that he was sitting next to Syed Farook, the gunman, at the meeting before Farook left.
Tin Nguyen, 31, was supposed to get married in 2017, her family told media outlets.
Born in Vietnam, Nguyen was a food inspector with the county health department. She lived in Santa Ana.
Michael Raymond Wetzel's slaying leaves his wife and six children without a husband and father. Friends and fellow church members appealed for help supporting his widow Renee, a stay-at-home mom in Lake Arrowhead.
"Michael was the most amazing person," Renee Wetzel said in a statement, issued through her friend Celia Behar. The couple had five children from previous marriages and one child together.
"He was my best friend and an incredible father who was loved by all. I have never known a better person. He loved his work and his family so very much. Without him, this family will never be the same. We appreciate all the love and support that everyone is showing."
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Behar runs a blog for mothers where Renee Wetzel frequently posted, and she turned there to ask for prayers shortly after learning that her husband, an environmental health supervisor, could have been attacked. "My husband was in a meeting and a shooter came in. There are multiple people dead/shot. I can't get a hold of him," she wrote.
After last month's deadly shootings in Paris, she posted a vacation photo on Facebook, overlain by the colors of the French flag.
After her husband's death was confirmed, she posted a Bible passage: "When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I."
The Lil' Mamas blog set up an online fundraiser for the Wetzel family on Thursday morning and quickly raised donations of more than $60,000.
Church of the Woods also asked its members to pray for the extended family: "Please continue to pray for Renee, his children, and his former wife Amy as they process this terrible tragedy and loss of their husband and father," the church said in a statement.
Damian Meins, 58, was passionate about serving his community, a message he took from the priests at his Catholic high school in Riverside and carried throughout his life.
Meins never strayed far from his church or its teachings, said Walter Hackett, who met Meins some 40 years ago in high school. "Service to others, helping others. He very much took that to heart," said Hackett.
"Damian was a good, good guy. Funny and smart and tall. A real quick smile, very friendly and outgoing," Hackett said. "It's a real hard hit for all of us who knew him."
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Meins married his high school sweetheart, now a Catholic school principal, and they raised two daughters, one a teacher. Meins was fondly remembered as the guy who dressed up as Santa for school pictures, according to a parent's social media posting Thursday.
Meins' Facebook page, where he can be seen smiling with his family in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, says he studied business administration at the University of Redlands starting in 1991. In 1979, he graduated from UC Riverside. He was also retired from the County of Riverside after working there for 28 years.
In addition to working at the in the public health department in San Bernardino, Meins was an Extended Care Coordinator at St. Catherine of Alexandria School in Riverside, where he also helped kids create Christmas art projects and religious murals, Hackett said.
Meins received a Community Recognition Award for his work in Riverside, which was based on "compassion, courage, forgiveness, generosity, humility, inclusiveness, integrity, kindness, respect and service."
According to The Press-Enterprise, he was the first victim identified. A living Rosary for the Meins family was held Thursday.
