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San Bernardino shooting: Who were the victims?

Posted at 10:52 PM, Dec 04, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-04 22:52:35-05

(CNN) -- As stunned communities mourn victims of this week's massacre in Southern California, more details are emerging about the 14 people killed.

A married couple opened fire Wednesday at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in the deadly attack that also injured 21 others.

Those killed ranged in age from 26 to 60, with stories of their friends' and families' heartbreak just as varied.

There's a father whose six children will spend the holidays without him. A new father who was planning a Disneyland trip. An easygoing 27-year-old with sparkling eyes and a quick smile.

Here are the people killed and what we know about some of them:

ROBERT ADAMS

Summer Adams met her future husband at church 23 years ago. She was 15. He was 17.

"He was funny," she told "Anderson Cooper 360?."

"And I think anyone that ever met Robert would say that he had an excellent sense of humor. He was a prankster."

The couple married 15 years ago and for years they held to a decision to not have children.

That changed as they moved into their late 30s.

Their daughter, Savannah, is 20 months old.

"I'm so grateful that I do I have a daughter and I have a piece of him that will always be in my life," she said. "She looks just like him. And he loved her more than anything on Earth.

Summer Adams wants her husband, 40, to be remembered as someone who was positive, generous, helpful and loved everyone.

"The biggest heart ever," she said.

In a post on an online fundraiser set up for his family, Shawn Brady said he'd known him for years.

"He loved his wife endlessly in the good and the bad," Brady posted on the page. "He was 100% lost in daddyland with Savannah."

And Adams always raved about his mother's spaghetti sauce, according to Brady.

"Him being a health inspector he said his mom's cooking was up to code," he said.

ISAAC AMANIOS

Isaac Amanios, 60, was a supervising environmental health specialist from Fontana, CNN affiliate KABC-TV reported.

New York Giants football player Nat Berhe, Amanios' cousin, tweeted Thursday about the family's loss.

"My cousin's name is Isaac Amanios and he was a great human being," Berhe said.

BENNETTA BETBADAL

The mother of three moved to the United States from Iran to escape religious persecution.

Bennetta Betbadal, 46, first settled in New York, and she eventually moved to California with her husband, Arlen Verdehyou.

"Everything she touched bloomed," Verdehyou told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "She went above and beyond."

HARRY BOWMAN

Harry Bowman, 46, grew up in York, Pennsylvania, and moved to California about 15 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing his mother. He had two daughters, the newspaper reported.

SIERRA CLAYBORN

Sierra Clayborn, 27, of Moreno Valley was always smiling, The Orange County Register reported, citing Becky Robinson, the mother of her best friend.

"She was always, always there to give you a hand to help out," the newspaper quoted Robinson as saying.

She graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2010, KABC reported.

JUAN ESPINOZA

The Los Angeles Times reported the 50-year-old Highland resident was an inspector for the San Bernardino County health department. Juan Espinoza is survived by his wife and two children.

AURORA GODOY

Aurora Godoy, 26, of San Jacinto was married to her high school sweetheart, The Orange County Register reported. The parents of a nearly 2-year-old child had recently celebrated their anniversary.

"She had a big heart and loved Disneyland," the newspaper quoted her mother-in-law, Janice Henson, as saying.

SHANNON JOHNSON

His girlfriend told CNN he was the kindest person.

"He loved people. He loved telling stories," Mandy Pifer said.

She said the first thing that went through her mind when she learned of Johnson's death was how lucky she was to have had him in her life.

"He let me know that he loved me very much," she said.

Johnson described himself on his LinkedIn page as a "hard working professional" who had been with San Bernardino County for nearly 11 years.

The 45-year-old rose before dawn each day to travel more than 60 miles between the Los Angeles home he shared with his girlfriend and his San Bernardino office, according to a statement from the Los Angeles mayor's office.

But there was more, so much more to him, his family said Friday.

"Shannon was a generous, fun-loving soul, who very much loved his family and friends. Shannon was a protector to all of those he loved. Shannon was friendly and easy to know, making friends everywhere he traveled," according to the family statement.

He loved going for walks, attending concerts and "hanging out at his favorite tattoo parlor," the family wrote.

An online fund-raising page has been set up to cover expenses involved with sending his remains to his home in Georgia, with any money left over going "to make sure that no family every has to experience this kind of tragedy again."

"Shannon believed in the greatness of love, equality and kindness and treated others accordingly. All who knew him will miss him more than we can ever say, and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who are grieving the loss of their loved ones."

One of the survivors of the massacre said Johnson shielded her during the shooting and was her hero.

DANIEL KAUFMAN

Daniel Kaufman worked at a coffee shop at the site of the shooting, and he had a larger-than-life personality.

He was the kind of man who chatted up strangers in checkout lines at grocery stores, said his boyfriend, Ryan Reyes.

"The man could have a 30-minute conversation with a cashier about his cats ... and I would literally have to pull him away," he said.

"One of those guys that everybody loved, got along with everybody, the life of the party, always funny, always creative."

Kaufman was 42.

DAMIAN MEINS

The 58-year-old loved dressing up as Santa, to the delight of children at a local school.

Damian Meins was kind and loving, and he laughed easily, friends told The Press-Enterprise.

"He was an amazing guy, we'll all miss him," former co-worker Dottie Merki told the paper.

Meins was a 1975 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles, where the football team was to put his initials on their helmets Friday night.

"Damian loved Notre Dame, and often volunteered time with us as a member of the football team 'Chain Gang,' " the school said in a statement. "His death has affected our community deeply. He will be missed."

He worked at the environmental health services agency.

TIN NGUYEN

Tin Nguyen, 31, of Santa Ana was "an incredible person with a contagious smile," friend Kim Oanh Pham wrote on a GoFundMe page to help raise money for funeral and other expenses.

Nguyen's "heart was bigger than the sun," she wrote. "You couldn't help but fall in love with her addicting personality and goofy sense of humor," the friend wrote on the page.

NICHOLAS THALASINOS

Nicholas Thalasinos was passionate about his beliefs, a friend said.

So much so, Thalasinos, 52, had a "heated, passionate conversation" about politics and religion with the gunman days before the shooting, Kuuleme Stephens said.

Stephens said that a few days earlier, she had called Thalasinos when he was in the middle of a conversation with the man later identified as the gunman. She described the talk as "calm and collected."

Thalasinos was reportedly a Messianic Jew, a movement that seeks to combine Judaism with the Christian belief that Jesus was the messiah.

After reports of the shooting emerged, Thalasinos' wife said she hoped for a miracle.

"The waiting was excruciating, because you're trying to hold out hope," Jennifer Thalasinos told CNN affiliate KTLA-TV.

He didn't make it out alive.

YVETTE VELASCO

Yvette Velasco, 27, had sparkling eyes and an easy, contagious smile.

"She was a bright young girl who showed a caring heart to everyone," colleague Omar Bashir said. "She worked hard and never gave up on her dream."

Devastated relatives said they are "still processing this nightmare."

"Yvette was an intelligent, motivated, and beautiful young woman, who was full of life and loved by all who knew her," her family said in a statement.

She leaves behind her parents and three sisters.

MICHAEL WETZEL

"Everyone who knew him just adored him," said Celia Behar, a family spokeswoman.

Michael Wetzel's wife, Renee, described the father of six as "the most amazing person" she knew.

"He was her best friend. He was an amazing father and was loved by all," Behar said.

Wetzel worked for the San Bernardino environmental health department.

He was 37.

CNN's Steve Almasy, Greg Botelho, Dana Ford, Ralph Ellis, Lorenzo Ferrigno, Faith Holland, Alexa Miranda, Michael Pearson, Boris Sanchez, Dam Simon, Traci Tamura and Chris Welch contributed to this report.

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