Southern California college nixes play based off terror attack

Dec. 3, 2015: A sign reads "SB Strong", referring to Wednesday's attack during a candlelight vigil in San Bernardino, Calif. (Reuters)

A Southern California college decided to cancel its plans to create a play based off the terror attack last December that left 14 people dead after some of victims’ family members complained.

San Bernardino Valley College President Diana Z. Rodriguez released a letter Thursday apologizing “for any pain or hurt we may have caused.”

"We would never seek to exacerbate the profound grief with which our community still lives," the letter said.

The play entitled “SB Strong” was supposed to be performed this fall and was meant to be a community response to the Dec. 2 attacks in killed 14 and wounded nearly two dozen others. An ensemble that might include actors, singers, dancers and musicians would create the piece after interviewing community members, the San Bernardino Sun reported.

Mark Sandefur was among those who were objecting to the play. He was the father of Daniel Kaufman. Kafuman ran a coffee shop at the social services center where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire at a holiday party.

"I am aghast at the suggestion that you'd want to profit from Daniel's death," Sandefur wrote in an email to Valley College officials. "What incredibly bad taste you show. I can't imagine who thought this was a good idea."

Rodriguez said the faculty is considering a new theme for the school's fall production.

"If a project like this one is considered in the future, we will seek wider community input to ensure that we do not misrepresent or dishonor the lives of the innocent people who were injured or taken from us on Dec. 2," she wrote.

The name of the proposed play was drawn from a logo created by Juan Esteban Garcia-Ruiz, a San Bernardino graphic designer. It was used on T-shirts sold by a local minor league team, raising more than $45,000 for the San Bernardino United Relief Fund.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.