The widow of a man killed in last month’s mass shooting in San Bernardino has filed claims seeking $58 million in damages on behalf of herself and her three minor children.  Renee Wetzel, whose 37-year-old husband, Michael, was among the 14 people fatally shot during an attack at the Inland Regional Center last month, filed four separate claims with San Bernardino County in late December, records show. The claims seek $3 million from the county for lost wages and $25 million in “general damages.” In addition, they ask for $10 million in damages on behalf of each of her three children, who are not identified by name in the documents.  “Claimants are, and will continue to be, deprived of the love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support, guidance, training and financial contributions of their husband and father,” reads the claim. “Claimants allege that the decedent’s death was preventable and caused by the negligent and careless actions of respondents.”  Michael Wetzel, 37, was a 15-year employee of the county and worked as a supervising environmental health specialist. He and more than a dozen co-workers were killed Dec. 2 when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik — who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, or ISIS — opened fire on a holiday party for county employees. Nearly two dozen employees were wounded. Farook, himself a county employee, and his wife were later killed in a shootout with police. The attack marked the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre three years earlier.  “The county will carefully consider each claim and act in the best interests of everyone involved,” David Wert, a county spokesman, told The Post on Wednesday.  Wert said individuals must first file claims with the county before heading to court to give the municipality an opportunity to settle the matter out of court and avoid spending taxpayer funds on protracted legal battles. If the county decides to reject the claim or a settlement can’t be reached, Wetzel can then file a lawsuit.  Andrew Nissen, one of the attorneys representing Renee Wetzel and her children, told the San Bernardino Sun that Renee and Michael Wetzel had one child of their own, and she has two children from a previous marriage. He said Michael Wetzel was raising his two stepchildren as his own. He also had three children from a prior marriage, the paper reported.  Within hours of his death last month, Wetzel’s friends had set up a fundraising site for his bereaved family, according to a website and a statement posted by his church at the time. Both the church and fundraising site show a family photo of the Wetzels — Michael beaming in a gray sweatshirt, Renee with an infant girl on her hip, the two of them surrounded by two other young daughters and three young sons. On the day of the shooting, Renee Wetzel wrote that her husband “was in a meeting and a shooter came in. There are multiple people dead/shot. I can’t get ahold of him,” according to the YouCaring.com fundraising site. “Approximately 8 grueling hours later, Renee learned that her husband Michael Raymond Wetzel had been killed.”  Meanwhile, a report in the Press-Enterprise newspaper said that some San Bernardino residents had filed claims against the city for property damage that resulted from hundreds of bullets fired during the shootout that killed Farook and Malik. Local councilman John Valdivia told the paper that about half a dozen such claims have been filed, including one woman asking for $3,000 to repair damage from gunshots that blasted out the windshield, door and side of her pickup truck.  Valdivia said that while officials typically reject such claims, city leaders are exploring ways to help residents who suffered property damage.  The victims of the San Bernardino shooting  How the San Bernardino shooting unfolded  The San Bernardino killers and their network of interest  Both San Bernardino attackers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, officials say  Brady Dennis is a national reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on food and drug issues.
The family of a 37-year-old man who died in the mass shooting at a county holiday party says his death was preventable.