Virginians Death's Confirmed in Attacks

PORTSMOUTH, Va - No one could have predicted Alan and Naomi Sherr, a father and daughter, would not return to their home in Nelson County, Virginia.

Alan, 58, was a Vice-President for the Synchronicity Foundation - an organization that promotes meditation. His 13-year-old daughter grew up at the Foundation's 450 acre property near Charlottesville.

Earlier this month, the pair traveled with more than 20 other members of their group to Mumbai, India.

"We thought this was the trip of a lifetime for all of them. And it was, up until Wednesday," Synchronicity Vice-President Bobbie Garvey said.

Wednesday, a father and daughter stopped for a snack at a cafe, just before gunmen started firing. The cafe was at the Trident Oberio hotel where the group was staying. Both the cafe and the hotel itself became targets of militants.

Garvey said some of the survivors told her of the terror they endured while barricading themselves in rooms at a hotel under siege.

"Most of them had their mattresses up against the door. The grenades were going off. There was constant gunfire. They didn't know at any time if it was going to be someone to save them, or someone to take them out," she explained.

Four other survivors with the group were injured. They reported being with Alan and Naomi before they were shot.

"The three people who were injured that went to the hospital told us they saw Alan take a bullet to the head and go down. They also told us Naomi was on the ground," Garvey said.

Garvey remembered Alan as someone committed to making a positive difference in the world. She spoke of Naomi as a bright, lively young woman. She explained Naomi completed the 8th grade a year early through a home-school program.

Garvey said Kia Sherr, Alan's wife and Naomi's mother is with family in Florida. Garvey said, "She is in mourning. She's grieving. She goes in and out of periods speaking and non-speaking. She's a mother... and a wife."

No services for the father and daughter have been arranged, yet. Garvey said Alan's wife is working on the details of a memorial with his family.

Four others traveling with Synchronicity were injured, including two women from Tennessee.

According to Garvey, they are all in various stages of recovery. The most seriously injured survivor is reportedly in an intensive care unit at an Indian hospital.