Thanks From Victim’s Mother

We came here in shock, stunned by a senseless tragedy that should have broken our hearts.

We leave here in shock, stunned by the outpouring of love of such magnitude that our hearts are not broken, just badly bruised.

Thank you, citizens of Orange County, from the depth of our beings for making our grief bearable and for allowing us to remember our son, as the happy, generous, caring individual that he was.

Take comfort, too, from the fact that no one except the perpetrator can share the blame for what happened and no one individual could have prevented the fatal act.

As his elder brother, Robert, has said repeatedly during this last week, “God needed him for another purpose. He wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time; he was in exactly the right place at the right time.”

Brad’s life had more meaning than we, his family, could possibly have imagined. His death will only become meaningful if we all take a little more time to acknowledge our neighbors and go out of our way to perform an occasional simple act of kindness. That was Brad’s way.

And if and when we next meet any one of you, please smile. Brad would have liked that.

MERIEL RICHES

Ware, England