IHOP in Carson City to reopen within weeks
A Carson City restaurant closed for more than a month after a deadly shooting rampage will reopen in coming weeks, restaurant officials said Thursday.
IHOP spokeswoman Rhonda Barnat said Thursday the company hopes to reopen in time for the upcoming holiday season, though she said a date had not yet been set.
The pancake house, in a shopping center on a busy thoroughfare, was closed after 32-year-old Eduardo Sencion shot 11 people Sept. 6, killing four and wounding seven. He then killed himself.
It's not clear whether the restaurant will be remodeled or honor the victims in some way .
Restaurant officials called the shooting a "senseless tragedy" and said they will remember the victims and their families.
The announcement was first reported by the Nevada Appeal.
Fred Ciccarelli, a witness who was inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting, said the restaurant was one of his favorites before the shooting, but he is not sure whether he will ever go back.
"They'd have to really redo the entire restaurant," he said. "I know where everybody was."
The 60-year-old Gardnerville resident said he has sought counseling from doctors since the shooting and only recently wore again the Tommy Bahama shirt and slacks he was wearing that day.
He said he is moving along in recovering mentally and doesn't have animosity toward IHOP, but going back inside the restaurant may be a step he is not ready to take.
"It's disrespectful to the victims if those of us who survived can gleefully go back in there," Ciccarelli said.
