Center leader expects all staff back at work

The IRC as it’s known, was the site where 14 people were killed in a terror attack by a husband and wife. Speakers at the service Mon.at an indoor arena in Ontario, Calif., about a month after the shootings expressed condolences to the family & buddies of these killed within the massacre & gratitude to 1st responders.

Monday morning, life returns to the center as 600 employees return to work there for the first time since the terror attack. Annette Arreola reports for Today in LA on Monday Jan. 4, 2015.

Rudy Giuliani was invited to speak to the gathering because of the former NY mayor’s experience guiding his city back from the previous horror of 9/11. Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren discussed the grief process, imploring those impacted by the attacks to release their feelings and support each other.

MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS An employee walks in as she returns to work for the first time following a shooting at the Inland Regional Center. Employees were at the center to meet with fellow workers, the center’s executive director said.

They showed badges and passed through a guarded security gate in the chain-link fence that’s still wrapped with privacy mesh and circles the Inland Regional Center like a green shroud.

Melvin Anderson, who helps transport the center’s clients, was trying to figure out where he could turn in paperwork to get paid. He says he cried when he heard. “We want to continue with the normalcy, and we miss each other very much”, Executive Director Lavinia Johnson told reporters.

“So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are part of us”, said Gonzalez, as responders said, “We remember them”. A third building, the location of the December 2 shooting, will remain closed indefinitely, the IRC said in a statement.

Since the attack, few employees of the center that serves autistic children and mentally disabled adults have gone to the office, other than for brief visits to gather personal belongings. No visitors are allowed.

The conference building will not reopen Monday, and it’s not clear when it might.