IHOP to reopen at 7 a.m. Thursday

The IHOP restaurant where four people were shot to death in September will reopen Thursday at 7 a.m.

Rhonda Barnat, a spokeswoman for the restaurant, said in October that IHOP hoped to reopen in time for the holidays.

"We are very appreciative of the support of the community in the aftermath of a senseless tragedy," Barnat said then. "We will always remember the victims and their families and all those who continue to heal. We look forward, with gratitude, to serving the community once again."

She would not comment for this story.

Mayor Bob Crowell said he will be there for the reopening. He said he personally agrees with the reopening but didn't push the business in one direction or another.

"Personally, I will have a lot of feelings and memories of what happened, that terrible tragedy that hit a lot of people in Carson City," Crowell said, adding that the city's residents are resilient. But "you have to move forward and I think the IHOP reopening is a good way to do that."

In the aftermath of the shooting, there was a debate in the community about whether reopening the restaurant was the right thing to do.

The IHOP, at 3883 S. Carson St., has been closed since Sept. 6, when gunman Eduardo Sencion, 32, fired about 60 rounds from an automatic weapon at the restaurant, killing four people, including three uniformed National Guard soldiers, and injuring seven others. Sencion, diagnosed at age 18 with schizophrenia, then fatally shot himself in the parking lot.

"I'm numb. It's a shame," said shooting survivor Kevin Carrick in October. He opposed it reopening in the same location. "I understand their position. I think if I was a business owner, I'd do my best to reopen my business. But, gosh - the only thing I'm bothered by is that people died in that place. I don't know how they are going to rearrange it so you're not sitting where people were shot."