TWIN FALLS, Idaho — In the days since the Twin Falls mass shooting, Samantha Mafua, Paige Schultz and Brennen Schultz have spent their time at their mother's hospital bedside, helping her recover while mourning the loss of their father.
Dale and Reinette Schultz had traveled from Utah to Idaho for a family reunion when they stopped to charge their Tesla in Twin Falls. Prosecutors say a gunman opened fire, killing Dale, one of three people who died in the shooting, and seriously injuring Reinette, who remains hospitalized.
Now, for the first time since the shooting, the couple's three children are sharing memories of the man they say was the heart of their family.
WATCH | Family of Twin Falls mass shooting victim shares memories of Dale Schultz
"My two boys, they are devastated. Their lives will never be the same," Samantha Mafua said.
Rather than focus on the violence that changed their lives, the siblings said they wanted people to know who their father was.
"He was a real rock for a lot of us. He was my personal role model and hero — just a very solid person that you could rely on no matter what," Brennen Schultz said.
They described a father who would drop everything to help someone in need, whether that meant changing a tire in the rain, waking before sunrise to drive one of his daughters to the airport, or helping raise his grandsons.
Brennen said one lesson from his father has stayed with him throughout his life.
"One of the things he told me that always stuck with me was the measure of a person is following through with what you say you're going to do. That's truly how he distills down for me. He was always there," he said.
In the hours after the shooting, however, it was the children left waiting. Spread across multiple states, they struggled to piece together information through frantic phone calls, uncertain whether either of their parents had survived.
"I'm standing at home four hours away saying, 'Are my parents alive? Are they alive? What's going on?' That was the hardest part, not being there and not being able to do anything about it," Samantha Mafua said.
As Reinette Schultz continues recovering from her injuries, her children say they are also grieving the loss of the man she had loved since they were teenagers.
The couple met as teenagers and were married for 46 years. Their children remember them holding hands on the couch, making breakfast for one another and planning the retirement adventures they believed were still ahead.
"They're just ridiculously in love in their 60s and doing what they wanted to do finally for fun. And they didn't get enough of that," Paige Schultz said.
For their children, those memories are what they hope endure.
"He was the most kind. The kind of person I measure all men up to. It's an impossible standard because he was an amazing dad, father, and grandfather," Samantha Mafua said.
