Matt Wennerstrom, a 24-year-old man who helped people escape the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting in November 2018, was killed Saturday when in a motorcycle crash in Newbury Park.
It happened at Lynn and Kelley roads at 6:21 pm Saturday.
Wennerstrom hit an SUV while he was riding east on Lynn. He was thrown from his bike. The SUV hit a retaining wall, officials said. He died at the scene.
The SUV’s driver and passenger. One of the SUV’s occupants was hospitalized, with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately disclosed.
A memorial meet for Wennerstrom was held Monday at 7 pm at 1475 Lawrence Drive, Thousand Oaks.
“Honestly means the world because Matt was so special to so many people,” Carina Cendejas, one of his friends, said at the vigil Monday night. “I just feel honored to even have known him.”
A native of Thousand Oaks himself, Wennerstrom frequented the Borderline Bar & Grill.
He said that, when the gunman opened fire at the scene on the night of Nov. 7, 2018, he pulled others behind a pool table without a second thought.
Wennerstrom and his friends then proceeded to shield female patrons with their bodies before smashing windows with chairs to provide an escape for about 30 people.
“All I wanted to do was get as many people out of there as possible,” he said. “I know where I’m going if I die, so I wasn’t worried.”
The bar shooting is one of the deadliest in American history, with the death toll at 13 people.
Witnesses of the crash that ended Wennerstrom’s life are encouraged to call Senior Deputy Marcos Moreno at 805-947-8289.
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