California Man Mourns Boyfriend Killed in San Bernardino Massacre

The man and woman who stormed a San Bernardino, Calif., social services center and opened fire took the life of a man who proudly wore rainbow earrings for gay pride, 42-year-old Daniel Kaufman, reports the Los Angeles Times.

In addition to running the coffee shop in building 3 at the Inland Regional Center since 2010, Kaufman trained the developmentally disabled clients who worked with him, according to the newspaper.

"He was his usual cheerful, chattering self," Kaufman's boyfriend Ryan Reyes told the Times about the last time he saw him alive Wednesday morning. They had dated nearly three years.

(RELATED: Ryan Reyes Interviewed by CNN's Don Lemon and MSNBC's Thomas Roberts)

Upon getting the news of the shootings, Reyes, 32, dialed his boyfriend's phone but kept getting voice mail.

For the next 22 hours, Reyes struggled to find out his boyfriend's fate, the paper reports. False leads had him running to hospitals and survivor centers, to no avail.

Reyes described Kaufman to authorities for identification: just under 6 feet tall and around 195 pounds, wearing black dress shoes with square toes, khakis, and a black polo shirt, which was the uniform he wore for his job at Coffee N More. Reyes said his boyfriend wore lots of rings and necklaces, plus those distinctive rainbow earrings.

Reyes told the Times that Kaufman was adopted by an aunt and uncle after his parents died, and spent much of his childhood in Pasadena before moving to Rialto during high school. He loved conversing with people, even strangers, even if it meant holding up lines for cashiers.

Reyes finally got the call from Kaufman's aunt, 24 hours and one minute after the last text his boyfriend sent. Daniel was gone.

Read more stories of the victims of the massacre from the Los Angeles Timeshere.