Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Funerals Of San Bernardino Shooting Victims


It was only a matter of time until they were heard from, and it took less than 24 hours for their faces to be shown. After the San Bernardino shooting on Wednesday, 14 people were killed and at least 17 were injured, but that doesn’t matter to one group. The Westboro Baptist Church has announced that they do indeed plan on picketing the funerals of the victims.

On Wednesday, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple, walked into the Inland Regional Center and opened fire. After killing 14 and injuring many more, they escaped in a black SUV before being tracked down by police and killed in a shootout.

There has not been much news on the victims as of yet, let alone plans for funerals. To the Westboro Baptist Church though, that doesn’t matter, and they really don’t care as they already are planning on picketing the funerals anyway.

Since that tweet went out early on Thursday morning, the official Twitter account has continued to come down on all the victims of the San Bernardino mass shooting. Their message is clear, and to them, it’s that “God sent the shooter.”

Spread throughout those tweets are numerous other messages with what the Westboro Baptist Church believes are the reasons that people die. Many say that it’s about “f*g marriage” or “disobeying God” as he’s “just getting started.”

Abortion has also been blamed a number of times throughout the tweets and used as the reason for the mass shooting.

According to NBC News, all of the 14 victims have not yet had a lot of their personal info publicly revealed, but their names are all known.

san bernardino victims westboro raymond wetzel
Image via Youcaring.com

One of them was 37-year-old Raymond Wetzel, a father of six. He supervised a team of health inspectors in the county Environmental Health Services division. Church of the Woods in nearby Lake Arrowhead, which Wetzel attended, did confirm the news of his death.

A fundraising page on Youcaring.com included a comment from Renee Wetzel, Raymond’s wife. She had asked for prayers as she knew he was where the San Bernardino shootings occurred, and she could not reach him early on Wednesday.

“He loved his work and his family so very much. Without him, this family will never be the same.”

Health inspector Damian Meins, a married 58-year-old father of two, was also shot dead on Wednesday afternoon. Meins worked as an aftercare director at the St. Catherine School of Alexandria in Riverside, where his daughter is also a teacher.

The names of other victims that have been released so far are:

  • Nicholas Thalasinos – 52
  • Sierra Clayborn – 27
  • Daniel Kaufman – 42
  • Shannon Johnson – 45
  • Bennetta Betbadal – 46
  • Aurora Godoy – 26
  • Isaac Amanios – 60
  • Yvette Velasco – 27
  • Harry Bowman – 46
  • Robert Adams – 40
  • Tin Nguyen – 31
  • Juan Espinoza – 50

On Thursday afternoon, Yahoo Sports reported that word had made it to New York Giants safety Nat Berhe that one of the victims was related to him.

Isaac Amanios is the cousin of the Giants’ safety. Berhe took to Twitter to ask for thoughts and prayers for his family and the families of all the victims of the San Bernardino shooting.

As a lot of teams are sad and grieving and scared after the San Bernardino shooting on Wednesday, the Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t seem to care. They have already announced their intentions of picketing all of the funerals and will likely let their full plans known soon.

[Image by Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images]

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