‘Mommy I Love You': Witnesses Describe Horror Unfolding Inside Orlando Club
Club-goers recount bodies falling to the ground as gunshots rang out
By Noreen O'Donnell and Daniel Sircar ••
The Pulse nightclub was filled with more than 300 people for Latin night, when a gunman identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen began shooting around 2 a.m. Sunday. As bullets flew, club-goers struggled to understand what was happening. Here are accounts from witnesses as the horror unfolded:
Brandon Wolf, a former contestant on the Bravo show Kandi factory, tweeted: "Omg. Shooting at pulse. We hid in the bathroom. And we can’t find our friends."
Later he wrote that a friend had died.
"My heart is broken. We couldn’t save Juan. Thank you everyone who was praying and hoping. May he rest easy."
My heart is broken. We couldn't save Juan. Thank you everyone who was praying and hoping. May he rest easy ❤️
Luis Burbano told CNN: "The DJ was playing a typical set that incorporated what we thought was gunshots as part of the music, four shots — bah, bah, bah, bah — but for some reason it was different. No one put two and two together until the fifth and sixth, between 10 and 20, that’s when everything really started getting real and then we all at that point did a domino effect all to the floor."
Christopher Hansen told NBC News he had taken his first sip from a drink when he heard what he thought was the beat of a song until he saw people falling to the dance floor.
"I just saw bodies going down," he said. "Bang, bang, bang."
Christopher Hansen describes what he did to help save someone’s life.
He crawled past a bathroom and made it outside, where people were bleeding. A man whose pants were drenched in blood had a bullet in his back, he said. Hansen used his bandana to stop the bleeding.
"I had just seen the movie 'The Conjuring 2'" he said. "To go from a horror movie to a real horror, it's just shocking."
Brand White and his cousin were on the dance floor when White's cousin yelled to him, "B, it's a guy with a bomb," the AP reported. Suddenly, White was hit in the shoulder.
"All of a sudden it just started like a rolling thunder, loud and everything went black," White wrote in a Facebook message to the AP from his hospital room Sunday. "I think I was trampled."
He didn't recall leaving the club, but he remembered the state he was in: "Covered head to toe in blood."
"I remember screaming and mass chaos," he wrote. "There were hundreds of people there."
**WARNING: Content may be disturbing to some viewers.** A witness outside the nightclub where 50 people were killed early Sunday morning filmed police cars and the sound of gunshots.
He got to the hospital, where he received a blood transfusion. As Sunday wore on, his cousin remained missing.
Mina Justice was asleep when she got the first text from her 30-year-old son, Eddie Justice, who was inside the Pulse. Here is their exchange of messages, according to The Associated Press.
"Mommy I love you," the first message said. It was 2:06 a.m.
"In club they shooting."
Mina Justice tried calling her 30-year-old son. No answer.
Alarmed and half awake, she tapped out a response.
"U ok"
At 2:07 a.m., he wrote: "Trapp in bathroom."
AP
Mina Justice shows a reporter texts with her son who was in a bathroom at Club Pulse, Sunday June, 12, 2016, in Orlando.
Justice asked what club, and he responded: "Pulse. Downtown. Call police."
Then at 2:08: "I'm gonna die."
Now wide awake, Justice dialed 911.
She sent a flurry of texts over the next several minutes.
"I'm calling them now."
"U still in there"
"Answer our damn phone"
"Call them"
"Call me."
The 911 dispatcher wanted her to stay on the line. She wondered what kind of danger her son was in. He was normally a homebody who liked to eat and work out. He liked to make everyone laugh. He worked as an accountant and lived in a condo in downtown Orlando.
"Lives in a sky house, like the Jeffersons," she would say. "He lives rich."
She knew he was gay and at a club — and all the complications that might entail. Fear surged through her as she waited for his next message.
At 2:39 a.m., he responded:
"Call them mommy"
"Now."
He wrote that he was in the bathroom.
"He's coming"
"I'm gonna die."
Justice asked her son if anyone was hurt and which bathroom he was in.
"Lots. Yes," he responded at 2:42 a.m.
When he didn't text back, she sent several more messages. Was he with police?
"Text me please," she wrote.
"No," he wrote four minutes later. "Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us."
At 2:49 a.m., she told him the police were there and to let her know when he saw them.
"Hurry," he wrote. "He's in the bathroom with us."
She asked, "Is the man in the bathroom wit u?"
At 2:50 a.m.: "He's a terror."
Then, a final text from her son a minute later: "Yes."
More than 15 hours after that text, Justice still hadn't heard from her son. She and a dozen family and friends stayed at a hotel Sunday evening that was used as a staging area for relatives awaiting news.
Early on Monday, authorities identified Eddie Justice as one of the people killed in the rampage.
AP
Supporters of the victims of the recent mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub attend a vigil at Lake Eola Park, on June 19, 2016, Orlando, Fla. Tens of thousands of people attended the vigil.
AP
Supporters of the victims of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub attend a vigil in Orlando, Florida, on June 19, 2016.
AP
People hold up candles during a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 19, 2016.
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The names of each victim of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, are read out loud during a vigil on June 19, 2016.
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The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, shines in the colors of a rainbow to honor victims of Sunday's mass shooting at an Orlando gay club, Monday, June 13, 2016. People brought banners, flags and candles to the Place Trocadero in front of the Paris landmark.
AP
People pay their respects and place candles and tributes at Saint Anne's Church in the Soho district of central London, during a vigil for the victims of Sunday's Orlando shootings at a gay nightclub in Florida, Monday June 13, 2016. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, opened fire at the crowded Pulse Orlando club early Sunday, killing dozens and wounding others.
KNBC-TV
Southern Californians rallied in support of the Orlando nightclub shooting victims and the LGBT community. The pylon lights at LAX glowed in multiple colors Sunday June 12, 2016.
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Paul Cox, right, leans on the shoulder of Brian Sullivan, as they observe a moment of silence during a vigil for a fatal shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Atlanta.
AP
President Barack Obama ordered flags fly at half-staff around the Washington Monument to honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings on Monday, June 13, 2016.
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Johnpaul Vazquez, right, and his boyfriend Yazan Sale, sit by Lake Eola, in downtown Orlando. Fifty people were killed, including the gunman, and more than 50 others injured in a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
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A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington on June 12, 2016, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando.
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A visitor places flowers at a makeshift memorial during a vigil for victims of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida the previous day, in front of the United States embassy on June 13, 2016, in Berlin, Germany.
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The Michael Fowler Centre is lit up in the colors of the rainbow flag after a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, at Frank Kitts Park on June 13, 2016 in Wellington, New Zealand.
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Marchers hold letters that spell out Orlando in support of the victims in the shooting during the annual Gay Pride parade in West Hollywood on June 12, 2016.
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The Sydney Harbour Bridge is illuminated with rainbow colors to remember victims of the Orlando night club massacre on June 13, 2016, in Sydney, Australia.
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One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York on June 12, 2016, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida,
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People light candles during a vigil for the attack at the gay club in Orlando, on Monday, June 13, in Bangkok, Thailand.
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The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York on June 12, 2016, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
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Lights in Venice, CA lit up in the rainbow colors of the LGBT flag on Sunday, June 12, 2016, in homage to the victims on the Orlando nightclub shooting.
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A woman holds a banner during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on June 13, 2016, in Sydney, Australia.
NBC DFW
The Dallas skyline is lit paying tribute to the Orlando shooting victims.
David Goldman/AP
A message spelled out in candles is laid out at a vigil after a fatal shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Atlanta.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Rachel Henry, from left, Selene Arciga, Nicolette Gullickson, Joanna Lamstein join members and supporters of the LGBT as they gather for a candlelight vigil in front of the White House in Washington, Sunday, June 12, 2016.
Andres Kudacki/AP
A woman cries and holds flowers in front of a makeshift memorial to remember the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, in New York, Sunday, June 12, 2016.
Oded Balilty/AP
Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 12, 2016.
AP
Mourners gather around candles lit during a vigil after a fatal shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Atlanta.
