It was 5 p.m. in Vincent Park, where about 30 people had gathered at a candlelight vigil to offer well-wishes to San Bernardino shooting victim Jennifer Stevens and her family. There was no podium, no microphones, no one looking to an elected official for words; it was a quiet affair, so to speak.
“But like any Redondo event, people just won’t stop talking,” Terry Martinez said.
The mood was substantially lighter than expected, considering the reason for the gathering, thanks to some good news: Not long after people began to gather, Stevens’ childhood friend Brett Aspel got word that Jennifer had arrived home from the hospital.
Martinez, a member of the Redondo Union Alumni Association, organized the vigil shortly after hearing that Stevens, 22, a Redondo native and RUHS grad, was among those injured in last week’s mass shooting, which killed 16 people and injured 23.
“Redondo is a 111-year-old school, with a large alumni group,” Martinez said of her Sea Hawk Family. “When something happens to one of us, it happens to a lot of us.”
“It’s a nice tribute for Jen, not overbearing, and that she’s home from the hospital so soon is amazing,” said Redondo Mayor Steve Aspel, Brett’s father.
Brett Aspel didn’t know anyone upon moving to Redondo Union High School from St. Lawrence School, she said — except Stevens, who she had known since she was eight years old. The two met in local youth sports, playing soccer and softball growing up. Both ended up on the RUHS Softball team.
“We were best buds on the team,” Aspel said. The team’s tallest players, they were nicknamed “TT1 and TT2,” short for Twin Towers. “She was one of my first friends when I got here.”
Aspel was at work when she heard that Stevens was among those wounded in San Bernardino, learning the news via a text from her sister.
“I was in shock. I had to drive home after reading it,” she said. “I reached out to a lot of my friends from high school…they’re more angry and upset than anything else.”
The two drifted apart after graduating and going to different schools — Aspel to Hawaii, Stevens to CSU-Riverside — but still maintained contact. The families are still close; Steve Aspel has kept in touch with Stevens’ parents throughout, and Pam Aspel said that Jennifer’s parents still bring Christmas cookies over to their house every year.
“I still see her every summer, out and about,” Brett Aspel said. “Hopefully, I’ll get to see her again soon.”
