Last Updated on March 1, 2022 by CCAR Staff
THOUSAND OAKS — Matt Wennerstrom, who helped people flee Southern California’s Borderline bar mass shooting, was killed in a motorcycle crash during the weekend, authorities said.
The crash occurred Saturday in the Newbury Park area of Thousand Oaks, police said in a statement.
Wennerstrom was memorialized at a vigil Monday night, Los Angeles TV station KNBC reported.
A friend, Carina Cendejas, said Wennerstrom “was special to so many people.”
• More on the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting
Wennerstrom emerged as a hero in 2018 when a gunman opened fire in the Borderline Bar and Grill, killing 11 and wounding a sheriff’s sergeant who was accidentally killed by a shot fired by a fellow lawman. The shooter took his own life.
RELATED STORY: A Borderline Bar & Grill regular skips a night of dancing, and now he’s grieving the dead
During the gunfire, Wennerstrom first shielded other patrons and then used a barstool to smash out a window, allowing many to escape.
“All I did was grab as many people as I could and pull them underneath the table,” he told LA TV station KABC at the time. “And then, till I heard the shots, till I heard a break in the shots, and then we got people out of there as much as we could.”
Wennerstrom, 24, was thrown from his motorcycle after colliding with an SUV, officials said. He died at the scene. The crash is under investigation.
