It is unclear whether Eddie survived there were no more messages from him after he replied "yes" at 2:51am in answer to his mother's question if the attacker was also in the toilet. Yet many unfortunate revellers ended up being holed up in the toilets or entertainers' rooms where it seems many of the deaths took place.įrom the text messages shared between Mina Justice and her son Eddie, who was in the club, it seems people were trapped in a toilet with Mateen holding them hostage.Ī photograph of Mina Justice's phone, displaying the messages from her son Eddie who was trapped inside Pulse. Several people crawled through the front, others through the back and some managed to climb out of windows. Survivors and accounts collated from social media suggest there was intense firing inside the club, from which patrons struggled to find a way to escape.
The management of Pulse quickly posted an emergency warning on its Facebook page.Ī screenshot of the message posted by Pulse nightclub on its Facebook page when the massacre started on its premises. At least three police officers tried to engage the 29-year-old attacker but Mateen made it inside.Īt some point, Mateen, according to the FBI, made a call to 911 during the attack and some officials said the killer pledged his support to the "Islamic State, or ISIS. "When I got across the street, there were people – blood everywhere."Īccording to the Orlando Sentinel, an off-duty police officer working at the club heard shots around 2:02am.Īt that point Omar Mateen, identified as the perpetrator of the "terror and hate" attack, was outside Pulse, wielding an AR-15 (assault rifle), a gun and an explosive device.
People were trying to escape out the back." Christopher didn't see the shooter. He told CNN, "I just saw bodies going down and I was ordering a drink at the bar. So when revellers heard loud percussive sounds around 2am, no one suspected anything other than drumbeats or special effects.Ĭhristopher Hanson said at first he thought the loud, rhythmic sounds were part of the music "until you heard too many shots. It was a balmy Saturday night in June, a month declared by President of the United States Barack Obama as " Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." Only a few days ago, Orlando's LGBT community had celebrated the annual Gay Days, setting the tone for the Latin-themed weekend night at Pulse, a club known for being gay-friendly. Police cars and fire trucks are seen outside Pulse nightclub where a mass shooting left 49 people dead and 53 injured in Orlando, Florida in the US. Some parents can be seen making desperate appeals on television, begging to know what happened to their sons or daughters who were at Pulse at the time of the brutal attack. Witness accounts attempt to piece together information, while families still await confirmation on the status of missing loved ones hours after the attack.įriends and family members embrace outside the Orlando Police Headquarters after the shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando, Florida.Īfter 49 people were killed and 53 were injured at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday, families and officials continue to struggle to make sense of what has been described as the "deadliest mass shooting in America."įamily members are still holding onto the hope that their loved ones are not among the dead, as hospital authorities had released only seven names around 17 hours after the assault.