Electronic music artists, an elementary school teacher and the teenage son of a deputy for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office are amongst 36 victims killed in a fire Dec. 2 during a show at an Oakland warehouse dubbed 'Ghost Ship'.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Thursday Dec. 8, all 36 fire victims have been identified and their families notified.
Three of the victims identified are from out of the country. Authorities said they are from Korea, Guatemala and Finland.
The victim's names below have been confirmed by officials. Here's what we know so far about some of them.
Jennifer Mendiola:
The former California State University, Sacramento student was with Micah Danemayer, who is also a confirmed victim, the night the warehouse fire broke out.
We are sad to share the news that Sac State alumna Jennifer Mendiola was among those who died in the Oakland fire: https://t.co/rvfQICVqPc
— Sacramento State (@sacstate) December 8, 2016
Mendiola graduated from Sac State in 2010, said Elisa Smith, communications director at Sac State.
She had previously attended San Francisco State University where she received a bachelor's degree in psychology, according to her LinkedIn page.
Mendiola, 35, also went by name Alana Kane and was in a relationship with Danemayer, according to his Facebook profile page.
After graduating from Sac State, she attended University of California, Merced, as a graduate student, according to Dorothy Leland, the university chancellor.
"Colleagues have described Jennifer as a passionate and determined scientist, with an inquisitive mind and a collaborative spirit." Leland said in a statement. "She was a fifth-year health psychology graduate student in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, studying factors that influence risk behaviors and poor health, including one’s close relationships and emotional experiences."
Peter Wadsworth:
Wadsworth, 38, was the only resident of Ghost Ship who died the night of the fire. He was a Boston native and studied psychology at both Reed College and Harvard University, according to his Facebook page.
His friends told the San Francisco Chronicle he'd been trying to move out of Ghost Ship, which wasn't approved for residency, but was unsuccessful.
A friend also told the Chronicle he'd been also trying to get a marijuana-infused salsa business off the ground.
“He was a walking catalog of correct factual knowledge,” Swan Vega, 33, an artist who also lived at the warehouse-turned-artists-collective told the Chronicle. “He was like our Dumbledore — our wise wizard. He was a genius. He was pure intelligence."
Wadsworth listed technology, design, artwork, history, puzzles, problem solving, cooking, and the environment as interests on his LinkedIn page.
Nicholas Walrath:
Walrath, 31, was a lawyer who wore his hair long and lived in Oakland. He had completed clerkships at the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court in San Francisco and recently signed as an associate at San Francisco litigation boutique Durie Tangri LLP, according to his LinkedIn page.
The young lawyer attended Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) where he double majored in physics and philosophy, graduating in 2007. He later went to New York University School of Law and graduated in 2013.
Walrath's LinkedIn page also said he'd also attended the University of Cambridge for a time.
Walrath grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa. in the Point Breeze neighborhood and was valedictorian of Allderdice High School, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He was a rock-climber and a skier who also enjoyed riding his bike, said the Post-Gazette. Authorities found his bicycle outside the warehouse.
He moved from New York to the Bay Area with his girlfriend, who he texted from the fire, according to the Post-Gazette.
Walrath planned to specialize in intellectual property, which deals with patents and copyrights, and was working on his first case the night of the fire, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Jonathan Bernbaum:
The 34-year-old Berkeley native was a video artist, or a VJ.
Bernbaum lived in Oakland and had graduated from the University of Southern California in 2008, according to his LinkedIn page. He studied cinematic arts while at USC and was also a 2004 graduate of Brandeis University in Massachusetts, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bernbaum's LinkedIn page said he'd also interned for Pixar Animation studios.
He most recently did VJ work for an electronic music duo from Australia called Knife Party, according to his LinkedIn page. Bernbaum was a member of music collective, Katabatik, along with Joseph Matlock who also went by Joey Casio, and Barrett Clark, both who also died in the Oakland fire.
"Jonathan was a professional VJ who travelled the world with his visual wizardry..." the collective wrote on their website. "He was a genuine and unpretentious man who had great care for his friends, and was a master of his craft like no other."
Joseph Matlock:
Matlock, 36, of Oakland was also known as Joey Casio. The musician was scheduled to perform at Ghost Ship the night of the blaze under the name Obsidian Blade, said the San Francisco Chronicle. Matlock was into punk and electronica music and was passionate about creating music whether people listened to it or not, according to the Chronicle.
His day job was teaching. Matlock had teaching credentials and had worked at a preschool in Olympia, Wash. where he previously lived, said the Chronicle.
Matlock had toured with a musician friend in cities including Sacramento.
K Records, which represented Matlock, is selling Joey Casio singles bundles in honor of Matlock, said Pitchfork. All proceeds are going to the Ghost Ship Fire Relief Fund.
Matlock was a member of music collective, Katabatik, along with Barrett Clark and Jonathan Bernbaum, who both also died in the Ghost Ship fire.
Barrett Clark:
Clark, 35, was a sound engineer living in Oakland. Clark's Facebook page said he was from Santa Rosa. The professional sound engineer was part of the Katabatik experimental music community. Joseph Matlock, also known as Joey Casio, and Johnathan Bernbaum, who both died in the Ghost Ship fire, were also members of Katabatik. The music collective posted a tribute to their perished members, including Clark.
"This friday, in the “Ghost Ship” fire, the Katabatik collective lost one of its core members, and leading lights; Barrett Clark. Barrett was the soundman for all Katabatik events and performed mystical and transcendently visceral music under many monikers : RPTN, RMS, Sidereal Oscillations, Accenting Shadows, POLAR, among others. He was an extremely intelligent, generous, funny, and vibrant man; an amazing and accomplished sound engineer, cook, DJ, and musician – with a great love of the outdoors and a fearless sense of adventure."
Clark provided audio tech for night venues such as Bottom of the Hill, Mezzanine and DNA Lounge in San Francisco.
He was working at Ghost Ship the night of the fire.
Michele Sylvan:
Sylvan, 37, of Oakland perished in the fire alongside her partner, Wolfgang Renner, according to Facebook friend, Robert Janca.
Janca described Sylvan as "a potent visionary" who "was always up for lifes adventure."
Wolfgang Renner:
Renner, 61, of Oakland was the oldest victim in the Ghost Ship fire.
Renner was a musician who wrote and performed electronic keyboard music, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
He was from the town of Erlangen in the German state of Bavaria and did odd jobs in the U.S., said the Chronicle.
Renner's friend, Robert Janca, wrote on Facebook, "Wolfgang was about as free of an individual as anyone is likely to ever meet. When we were close, it was a joy to go and visit him as he was a capable host who made all of his friend's feel welcome and celebrated."
Nicole Siegrist:
Siegrist, 29, of Oakland was also known as Denalda Nicole Renae. Her Facebook page featured photos of her in sky blue hair and wearing funky daisy earrings.
She played the synthesizer in the band, Introflirt, with Ben Runnels also known as Charile Prowler. Runnels also perished in the fire.
Siegrist would go all out for shows in elaborate stage makeup and clothes, said the East Bay Times.
“Right off the bat she would talk to anyone,” her friend and band manager Brendan Dreaper told the East Bay Times. “Especially when she took on her stage persona — she had a team of friends who would help her design outfits with a new style for every show. If I didn’t know who she was I would have thought Ben was playing with a different person every time.”
Siegrist was a Lincoln, Neb. native, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She worked at Oakland's Grand Lake Theater.
Siegrist pursued a degree in textile clothing and design at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before moving to Oakland, said the East Bay Times.
Griffin Madden:
Madden, 23, graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 and lived in Berkeley. He double majored in philosophy and Slavic Languages and Literature, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“He was probably the most memorable undergraduate student I’ve had in my years of teaching,” Luba Golburt, an associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages, told the Chronicle.
Madden had a passion for music. He ushered at Cal Performances, which features music, dance and theater. After ushering for five years, he recently landed a full-time position as an audience services associate, according to the Chronicle.
We share a message from our Director, Matías Tarnopolsky: https://t.co/UK61Wprwgc pic.twitter.com/tSeOtxwciV
— Cal Performances (@calperformances) December 7, 2016
Madden was dating Saya Tomioka, who also studied at UC Berkeley. She posted a tribute to her love on Facebook, recalling a night she and Madden watched 'The Book of Mormon' in New York. The couple shared a kiss, captured by a bystander.
"I remember tears swelling my eyes because the city was so beautiful and amidst all the lights, I got to look at the brightest light of all, my sweetie. I cried, and we kissed." she wrote on Facebook about the photo.
Tomioka explained, the couple saw the photo after it was taken but never saw it again.
Until now.
After posting about wanting to see the photo, social media did its part in tracking down the photographer.
Johnny Igaz:
"DJ/Producer of dance music. Friend/Lover of course."
Igaz, 34, described himself with those words on his Facebook page. Igaz worked as a music analyst and voice over talent for Pandora, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He grew up in Alameda and attended Alameda High School, according to his Facebook page. Igaz also went to Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts.
The Oakland DJ performed under the name, "Nackt" and hit the stage at Ghost Ship the night of the fire, according to the East Bay Times.
Igaz's younger brother, Paul Igaz, said in a Facebook post, Johnny used to DJ on a portable turntable from the 1970s his uncle had passed down to him.
He had recently scored a job as a music buyer for Green Apple, an independent new and used bookstore in San Francisco. He previously worked as a technician at Waveformless, a vintage synthesizer boutique in Oakland, according to his LinkedIn page.
Igaz was also the founder of Outpost, which is described on its Facebook page as a "party created as a platform for undervalued musicians/people to gather, play music, and share ideas freely and safely".
Chelsea Faith Dolan and Amanda Kershaw, who perished in the fire, were also members of Outpost, according to the East Bay Times.
Jason McCarty:
McCarty, 35, is originally from Iowa and lived in Oakland. He got a master's degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art where he received a bachelor's degree in painting and general fine arts, according to his LinkedIn page.
Jason was a sound designer and a sound technician. He was also a sound artist for many bands, said the San Francisco Chronicle.
His Facebook, under the name Jalien Adrian, features posts about aliens and shows support for Standing Rock in North Dakota.
His father, Gene McCarty, told the San Francisco Chronicle his son began creating art around the time he was three years old.
“He’s done artwork, comics, wrote and illustrated books,” Gene told the Chronicle. “He’s ventured into sound and music — a little bit of everything.”
Amanda Kershaw:
Kershaw, 34, was a photographer who grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., according to the her Facebook page. She graduated from Bridgewater State University in 2004 and moved to San Francisco with her husband, Andy Kershaw, a DJ, in 2008, said the East Bay Times.
Kershaw enjoyed capturing DJs in their natural element at parties and clubs. Her vibrant photos featured musicians, families and dancers.
The photographer threw a party every month called Pulse Generator, which featured DJs, according to the East Bay Times.
Her DJ photos featured Chelsea Faith Dolan, who also died in the Oakland fire.
Kershaw had previously worked at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park as an administrator in the entomology department, said the San Francisco Chronicle.
Her passion for photography was first encouraged by her husband, who bought her a professional camera, according to the Chronicle.
“She never had an interest before that,” he told the Chronicle. “She had no formal training. She was entirely self-taught. But she was able to capture people as their authentic selves. That’s what they always told her, anyway. Then they’d use her pictures on their profiles.”
Ara Jo:
Jo, 29, was from Los Angeles, according to her Facebook page. She lived in Oakland and was a co-founder of the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest in Berkeley, which she will be missing from when the annual event kicks off this weekend. The festival will hold a memorial for her and the other victims of the Ghost Ship fire, said the East Bay Times.
Jo got involved with the festival, dedicated to independent magazines and publications, while working with the Rock Paper Scissors Collective, a volunteer arts organization, according to the festival's website.
Jo also worked at the Ink Store art supply store in Berkeley and at Sgraffito, an art gallery in Emeryville, according to her Facebook page.
The San Francisco Chronicle said her parents are residents of South Korea.
Jo's LinkedIn profile lists art curation, art handling, youth leadership, fundraising, graphic design and sign painting as some of her professionals skills.
Billy Dixon:
Dixon, 35, was a Chagrins Hall, Ohio native living in Oakland. His former brother-in-law, Robert St. John Price, described him in a Facebook post as an 'artistic guide' who loved tinkering with computers and fixing old music equipment.
"Some may have known him as a beat boxer on the street. Some may have known him for being Verizon Wireless's number one goto guy for ringtones for so many years... Which is why he ended up in Oakland in the first place." Price wrote. "And, many of us knew him for being a disgustingly good D.J. with a spot on taste in music - old and new. The rest, his award winning recording arts."
Dixon attended Kent State University and moved to Oakland in 2007, with his girlfriend at the time, Ysabel Hoover who is Price's sister, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
He was involved in music at a young age, taking guitar classes as a youth, said the Chronicle.
Hanna Ruax:
Ruax, 32, was from Helsinki, Finland. She described herself as an entrepreneur, yogini, jewelry designer, stylist, creative director, creator and dreamer on her Facebook page.
Ruax was engaged to Alex Ghassan, who also died in the Oakland fire, according to officials. She had been living in Oakland since November, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ruax had been dating Ghassan long distance since last year, said the Chronicle.
Last week, Ghassan gifted Ruax a teal bike with a brown wicker basket, according to the Chronicle. She sold upcycled jewelry and styling services under her business, Nannanda.
Ruax also taught yoga and tried to eat vegan, according to the Chronicle.
Alex Vega:
Vega, from San Bruno, liked working on cars, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The 22-year-old died at Ghost Ship with his girlfiend Michela Gregory.
Vega liked urban grafitti, painting and electronic music, the Chronicle said. His family told the Chronicle he was very artistic, and also enjoyed photography, fashion and design.
He worked as a valet at UCSF during the day, and at night at Duggan’s Serra Mortuary in Daly City.
Vanessa Plotkin:
Plotkin of Lakewood, Calif. was studying sociology at UC Berkeley, according to her Facebook page. The 21-year-old attended the party at Ghost Ship with her friend and roommate Jennifer Morris, who officials also confirmed to have died in the fire.
Plotkin's brother, Gavin Plotkin, posted a photo of her on his Facebook page writing, "Babygirl I Miss You I Love You Always Beautiful Angel"
Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye:
Tanouye, 31, was a music manager at Shazam, which makes music identification apps for computers and smart phones.
The Shazam family is mourning the loss of our amazing Kiyomi Tanouye in the #OaklandFire. We love you and will never forget you Kiyomi. pic.twitter.com/eTeC12ld0i
— Shazam (@Shazam) December 5, 2016
Tanouye was an Oakland resident, who loved nail art and set up a booth she called the "Underground Nail Bar" at Ghost Ship, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The nail artist's Facebook page said she previously worked at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and had managed Issues, a magazine and book store in Oakland.
Tanouye's LinkedIn profile states she was creative director for Mission Creek Oakland festival. She wrote on her LinkedIn page, "I strive to support local musicians in their creative endeavors. I want to be challenged and solve problems head on with creative solutions!"
The Chronicle said she was 'inseparable' from her Pomeranian, Jejune.
Edmond Lapine:
"When the mode of the music changes the walls of the city shake."
Lapine, 34, chose to use this quote on his Facebook profile page. The musician, of Oakland, grew up in Utah, his father Bob Lapine told the San Francisco Chronicle.
He attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City, according to his Facebook page. Edmond graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in 2008 with a degree in French and Russian, according to the Chronicle.
Edmund's father told the Chronicle, his son worked at a bakery and a cafe at an art gallery to support his music passion.
He taught himself to play the guitar and joined a few bands in his youth. Edmund later began working as a DJ, the Chronicle said.
“Edmond was smart. He just enjoyed music and he found a love of music and he surrounded himself with people who loved music. But he died too young. I’ll never know what he would have been.” his father told the Chronicle.
Edmond's Facebook page showed he had checked in at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota on Oct. 31st.
Em Bohlka:
Bohlka, 33, was known as Em B. She was a transgender woman living in Oakland and worked as a barista and a baker, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Her former partner of seven years, Natalie Jahanbani, told the Chronicle Em B had come out as female earlier this year.
Em B grew up in Los Angeles county. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from UC Riverside and a master's degree in literature from Cal Poly Pomona, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
She worked at Highwire Coffee Roasters in Oakland where she met Donna Kellogg, who also died in the warehouse blaze.
Em B grew her own vegetables and was into photography, the Chronicle said. She also had a shepherd mix named Baroness, who she walked by Lake Merritt in Oakland in the evenings.
Micah Danemayer:
Danemayer, 28, was an Oakland resident. He worked as a producer and curator for Obscura Machina, a "focused and concentrated vision that brings together a collection of up and coming hardware centric music presentations", according to the collective's Facebook.
Danemayer is a Massachusetts native and graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2011, according to his Facebook page.
He described himself as "rave dungeon master and cynically optimistic" on his Facebook page.
He planned on forming an electronica band called Red Cellar with his friend, Devyn Fordyce, and started his own record label called Discarded, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Danemayer's Facebook page listed being in a relationship with Alana Kane. The San Francisco Chronicle said Kane, also known as Jennifer Mendiola, is UC Merced graduate and was with Danemayer at Ghost Ship the night of the fire. As of Wednesday, she is still reportedly missing.
“I was just so happy Micah wasn’t alone anymore and that he had found someone who loved him.” Fordyce told the Chronicle.
Benjamin Runnels:
Runnels, 32, went by the name Charlie Prowler. The Oakland resident was in the synthpop band 'Introflirt', according to his Facebook page.
The musician was from Mariaville, N.Y., according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Runnels worked landscape jobs to support his music interest, said the Chronicle.
“He was one of those people who could pick up any instrument,” his sister, Erin Runnels, told the Chronicle. “It would be really rare that a song, whether it was Glenn Miller or the Grateful Dead or some obscure European house music, would come on without him being able to tell you something about it.”
Runnels graduated from Southern Vermont College with a degree in communications.
Runnels attended the show at Ghost Ship Friday night with his bandmate, Nicole “Denalda” Renae, who is reportedly still missing.
Jennifer Morris:
Morris, a Foster City resident, graduated from San Mateo High, according to her Facebook page. The 21-year-old studied at UC Santa Cruz before transferring to UC Berkeley.
Her friends and family knew her as 'Jenny'.
“This is devastating as Jenny was such a beautiful, intelligent, creative, caring and sincere young lady with a bright future ahead of her,” her father Michael Morris told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Her friend and roommate, Vanessa Plotkin, 21, was with Morris the night of the fire and was identified by officials Tuesday, Dec. 6th.
Michela Gregory:
A South San Francisco resident, the 20-year-old was a child development student at San Francisco State University, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"She has touched soo many peoples lives and was just getting started." her mother Kimberly Gregory said in a Facebook post.
Michela grew up in San Bruno and pitched for the Millbrae Girls Softball League, according to the Chronicle. She attended high school in South San Francisco.
Her mother posted a video on Facebook that showed photos of Michela growing up, including one where she is swinging a pink baseball bat and another where she is fishing. The video had the Spice Girls' smash hit 'Wannabe' playing while the photos flashed in the video.
San Francisco State President Les Wong had alerted students and faculty that Michela was among those missing in the Oakland fire.
Michela's boyfriend, Alex Vega, was also at Ghost Ship during the fire. Officials identified Vega as a victim Tuesday, Dec. 6th.
Alex Ghassan:
The 35-year-old Oakland resident was an independent filmmaker who worked for KQED.
Remembering Alex Ghassan: Beloved Filmmaker, Colleague, and Close Friend https://t.co/iEChkFNRDr #OaklandFire pic.twitter.com/9YytCa8MaE
— KQED (@KQED) December 7, 2016
Ghassan also worked on other projects and for big names producers and executives, such as director Spike Lee, according to KQED. He was the father of four-year-old twin daughters, Lucy and Alex. The twins live in the New York City area with their mother, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ghasan moved from New Jersey to the Bay Area to pursue his career in film.
Ghassan's fiancee, Hanna Ruax, was with him during the fire and was identified by officials as a victim.
Riley Fritz:
Fritz, 29, also went as Feral Pines, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Oakland resident was a transgender woman was raising a rescue dog named Grimma, her father Bruce Fritz of Westport, Conn. told the Chronicle.
Fritz was born and raised in the affluent New York City suburb of Westport. Both of her parents are realtors, the San Francisco Chronicle said. She played youth hockey and was a dedicated Cub Scout and Boy Scout.
Fritz went Staples High School, according to the Chronicle, where she picked up the bass and played in garage bands. In 2005, she graduated and moved to New York City to study printmaking at the School of Visual Arts.
Her father told the Chronicle she loved animals.
Chelsea Faith Dolan:
Chelsea was from San Francisco. The 33-year-old made electronic music under the stage name Cherushii, according to her mother, Colleen Dolan's Facebook post.
"At age 13, she picked up a Japanese music magazine and acquired 78 pen pals, handwriting personal letters to each of them." her mother said in the Facebook post. "Some of those friendships endure to this day. It was on a solo trip to Japan at age 15, that she picked up her adopted name, Cherushii."
Chelsea performed at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco and was featured on the cover of 'Reader', an alternative newspaper in Chicago, according to her Facebook.
The electronic music artist was also a radio DJ. Chelsea had a radio program as DJ Cherushii at the UC Berkeley radio station, KALX, according to her mother.
"Chelsea was just about to release a new Cherushii CD. I hope one of her producer friends will make sure that happens." Colleen said in the Facebook post.
Draven Mcgill:
The 17-year-old was the fire's youngest victim. Authorities didn't release his name due to the fact he was a minor but the San Francisco student's classmates confirmed him as a victim, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Mcgill was the son of a deputy for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the agency in charge of recovering and examining victim's bodies. McGill was a junior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and lived in Dublin, according to the SF Chronicle. His father, Phil McGill, works for the Dublin Police Department, which is staffed by the county's sheriff office.
Brandon Chase Wittenauer:
He was a 32-year-old electronic music artist in a band called Symbiotix.Fungi, according to his Facebook profile. Wittenauer went by the stage name Nex Iuguolo. He was a Hayward resident, according to officials. The musician had spent time living in Nicaragua, according to his Facebook page. His friend of 15 years, Amanda Fish, told PEOPLE, “He had found his place in life and the Oakland artist community and was happy and thriving. He saw art in everything around him,”
PEOPLE said Wittenauer grew up in Santa Maria and met Fish at James Logan Central High School after moving to Union City. Wittenauer's Instagram features a photo of him at San Francisco State University's KSFS Radio studios giving an interview.
Donna Kellogg:
Kellogg was a 32-year-old Oakland resident who grew up in Chico and graduated from Chico High, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She graduated from San Francisco State University where she studied photography and returned to school to study nutrition at Laney College in Oakland, the SF Chronicle said.
Her mother, Susan Slocum, lives in Salinas, Calif., according to PEOPLE. Slocum told PEOPLE, “She was there to dance. We found out she was on the second floor dancing with her friends. They were the first bodies they were able to find.”
Slocum told PEOPLE she'd be buried next to her brother, who died when he was 18-years-old.
Kellogg worked as barista at Berkeley's Highwire Coffee Roasters. Highwire asked for privacy during the "very difficult process of absorbing the horror of what has happened".
Travis Hough:
Hough, 35, lived in Oakland and was an electronic music artist in the band Ghost of Lightning. He was a California College of Arts alumnus. The college tweeted about the loss Monday.
We are mourning the loss of CCA alum Travis Hough in the #oaklandfire pic.twitter.com/aoJX8Tv6Ci
— CCA (@CACollegeofArts) December 5, 2016
Hough showed his support for Latinx and Standing Rock on his Facebook page. His LinkedIn page lists he received a M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Expressive Arts Therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies. The page also shows he was currently a marriage family therapist intern at Bay Area Community Resources.
A GoFundMe account set up to help his family with expenses has raised $14,000 with a goal of $20,000.
Nick Gomez-Hall:
The 25-year-old of Coronado, Calif. graduated from Coronado High School in 2009, according to the San Diego Tribune. After graduating from high school. the San Diego Tribune said he attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where he received a B.A. in American Studies in 2013.
While at Brown, Gomez-Hall joined a two-man indie-rock band called Nightmom. The musician was working at Berkeley publishing company, Counterpoint Press, as an administrative assistant.
.@CounterpointLLC is brokenhearted to share that we lost one of our own in the tragic Oakland warehouse fire. pic.twitter.com/IQGUbbCrAY
— Counterpoint Press (@CounterpointLLC) December 5, 2016
Gomez-Hall showed support for Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter on his Facebook page.
David Cline:
Cline, 24, was a Santa Monica native who graduated from UC Berkeley last year with a B.A. in cognitive science and computer science, according to the East Bay Times.
Cline played volleyball and the clarinet in high school, according to his Facebook friends.
His brother, Neil Cline, wrote in a Facebook post, “To all of you, thank you. Thank you for your kindness, help and love. To David, we love you. You will be with us always.”
Cash Askew:
She was a 22-year-old Oakland resident who identified as transgender. Askew was a member of pop/goth band, Them Are Us Too. The group was founded by Santa Cruz native, Kennedy Ashlyn, and was later joined by Askew while the two were studying at UC Santa Cruz, according to the Washington Post.
According to Pitchfork, the band's independent record label, Dais Records, said in a press release,“Cash Askew was an absolutely loved and treasured member of the Dais Records family. We were in awe of her talent, her gentle kindness, and her creative momentum... Her passing is an excruciating loss that we may never fully process or recover from.”
Them Are Us Too released their debut album, Remain, in 2015 and sold out of their first run vinyl, according to the Washington Post.
Askew's mother, Leisa Baird, told the Washington Post she was raised by a "very musical family, very artistic family, very queer family."
Askew's stepfather is a transgender man, according to the Washington Post. Askew showed support for queer/transgender self-defense education on Facebook.
Them Are Us Too planned to tour South America at the end of January, the Washington Post said.
Sara Hoda:
Hoda, 30, was a Walnut Creek resident and a teacher at Urban Montessori Charter School in Oakland. She was known to her students as "Miss S", according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Hoda was a support teacher, which means she had traditional teaching credentials but lacked Montessori credentials, according to the Chronicle.
The school released a statement Monday stating in part, "Sara was loved and full of love, and she will be missed by so many people,"
Hoda's former housemate, Carol Crewdson, posted on Facebook, "Sara was a principled person, she was compassionate, decent, and honorable. She didn't do drugs and she wasn't a drinker... She was a good hard working person, she loved children and the earth, and she put those principles into actions. She didn't deserve to go like that."
