SEATTLE - One year after four patrons and a Bellevue woman were shot to death by a mentally ill gunman, the eclectic University District cafe where it all started acknowledges the somber anniversary.
Cafe Racer will be closed Thursday in memory of Joe Albanese, Drew Keriakedes, Don Largen, Kim Layfield and Gloria Leonidas.
Outside the cafe, people passing by are stopping to pay their respects and leave mementos and flowers. A sidewalk chalk message reads, Sing me a song of happiness to remember the good times.
The support has been continuing and hopefully it will continue, said Kurt Geissel, Cafe Racer owner. Of course, we have wondered is it OK to keep going. The answer is, you have to keep going.
Geissel decided to reopen seven weeks after the shooting. He said it was with encouragement from Leonard Meuse, the lone survivor of the shooting. Meuse was bartending at the time and was shot twice. He is still an employee.
A separate room has been created in the cafe to include all of the memories, photos and trinkets left behind to remember those killed. For Geissel, they were not just regulars, but friends.
I honor them just by having them in my heart. But I miss them, he said.
