Thousand Oaks Gunman's High School Coach Speaks About Sexual Assault
NEWBURY PARK (CBSLA) — The Thousand Oaks shooter's high school track coach says that he assaulted her.
"I turned on the news and I was watching it and when they said his name my jaw just dropped," said Dominique Colell.
Ian David Long is the name this former high school coach hadn't heard in a long time. But it's one she never forgot.
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"He attacked me. He attacked his high school track coach," said Colell. "Who does that?"
For the former Newbury Park High School track coach this day has been full of emotions — from sadness to guilt. Because she never filed charges against Long after she says he assaulted her his senior year.
Colell says it happened during practice when someone found a phone and she was trying to figure out who it belonged to.
"Ian came up and started screaming at me that was his phone," said Colell. "He just started grabbing me. He groped my stomach. He groped my butt. I pushed him off me and said after that — 'you're off the team.' "
But Colell says she was encouraged by other coaches and the school to accept an apology to not ruin his future in the Marine Corps.
"I should have reported it then," said Colell.
And although she never would have predicted this, Colell says she doesn't believe this is just a case of PTSD. She says Long had issues long before he was ever a Marine.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people with PTSD," said Colell. "They don't go around shooting people. This kid was mentally disturbed in high school. There were signs and the administration knew it."
