A mentor community remembers the victims of the deadly shooting 1 year later

MENTOR, Ohio (WOIO) – It’s been one year since an active shooter opened fire at the Mentor Green Mobile Estates, in Mentor.

Four people died that day, including the gunman who committed suicide.

For a 90-year-old mobile home park resident who lived just two doors away from the shooter, November 16, 2023 will always haunt him.

The resident asked 19 News not to use his name. But he says he witnessed a neighbor save his life — he was shot when that neighbor went outside to try to help property manager Laura Colon, 62, who later died of her injuries. see if she’s still alive. So when he came out and looked, he was shot. I was in his trailer and that really scared me, so I lay down on the ground. I didn’t know what was happening and when it would end.”

The shooter, Jason Norris, 47, who lived in trailer 84, had received an eviction notice earlier in the day. His actions cost the lives of the property manager and two other residents, 63-year-old Terrance Mathis Sr. and Thomas Galiza. The other injured man was briefly hospitalized and then released.

At least 30 residents of the mobile home park were evacuated for their own safety and several SWAT teams were called to assist.

Mentor police and all the first responders on the scene that day saved lives. Just two minutes after the initial 911 call, police arrived on the scene.

The 90-year-old resident who still lives there says he was in his car when the manager was killed and to this day doesn’t know why he didn’t just drive out of the park. But his neighbor saw him and pushed him into his caravan where he remained safe.

But even a year after the deadly tragedy, trailer 84, which belonged to the shooter, remains on the grounds of Mentor Green Mobile Estates. The windows were still shattered from the gunfire – a painful and disturbing reminder of a tragedy that changed lives forever.