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FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) — Time passes, but there is no closure.
Forty years after a mass shooting at California State University, Fullerton, left seven people dead and two wounded, there is unending grief among the families of the victims.
Paul Paulsen told the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/29UFT4G ) that he'll never forget smelling gunpowder when he arrived at the campus on July 12, 1976, to learn that his sister Debbie had been killed.
Now 64, Paulson was among speakers set for a Tuesday evening anniversary ceremony at the university's Memorial Grove.
"All of the families of the victims serve life sentences," he said. "We're the ones who are suffering. The killer has now lived longer than all of the victims."
Edward Charles Allaway opened fire with a rifle in the Orange County university's library, killing seven employees and wounding two others. Allaway was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has since been moved around locked mental health facilities across California.
Patricia Almazan's father, Frank Teplansky, was among those killed.
"You can't have closure," Almazan told the newspaper. "It still hurts very much. You can't put a limit on grief."
Paulsen and Almazan said they don't like to refer to Allaway by name. They call him "the killer" or "the mass murderer." They have supported continual efforts by the Orange County District Attorney's Office to keep him locked up.
Allaway is currently held at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, and he's eligible to petition the state for a new sanity hearing. All of his past appeals have been denied.
Paulsen and Almazan vow to be in the audience to represent the killer's victims each time his sanity is reviewed.
The 40th anniversary event was organized with help from Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer.
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Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com
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