DETAILS OF TEXTS sent from people inside the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that was the scene of a mass shooting at the weekend have begun to emerge.
50 people were killed and a further 53 injured, making it the worst mass shooting in US history.
A mother of a man killed in the Orlando shooting has shared texts sent to her from her son.
At 2.39am on Sunday, Eddie Justice texted his mother Mina from the bathroom, pleading for her to call police:
Call them mommy
Now
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 2.42am.
The last text she received from Eddie was at 2.50am. His name was later added to the city’s list of those killed in the attack.
Victims named
A number of the victims have now been named.
Edward Sotomayor (34) was a caring, energetic man known for wearing a silly top hat on cruises, according to David Sotomayor, who said the two discovered they were cousins after meeting at Orlando’s annual Gay Days festival around a decade ago.
David Sotomayor, who lives in Chicago, told The Associated Press Sunday that Edward worked for a company that held gay cruises and often travelled to promote the company’s events.
“He was just always part of the fun,” Sotomayor said.
You never think that’s going to be the last time you speak to him. It’s just heartbreaking to know it just can happen anytime.
Juan Ramon Guerrero (22) told his cousin Robert Guerrero he was gay about two years ago, but he was worried about how the rest of his family would react. He did not tell them until just before the beginning of this year.
“They were very accepting,” said Guerrero, 19. “As long as he was happy, they were OK with it.”
Guerrero said his cousin worked as a telemarketer and in recent months he started attending college at the University of Central Florida. And he was happy in a relationship with a person his relatives came to regard as a member of the family, Guerrero said.
“He was always this amazing person (and) he was like a big brother to me,” he said of his cousin.
He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew.
Snapchat video
Rosalie Ramos was awakened by a call at 2am Sunday telling her something had happened.
She told the Orlando Sentinel her son Stanley Almodovar III, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician, posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to Pulse nightclub.
“I wish I had that (video) to remember him forever,” she told the newspaper.
Everyone loved Luis Vielma, a 22-year-old who worked at Universal Studios, friends said.
High school friend Eddi Anderson told the Tampa Bay Times that Vielma loved his job at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and was known for his pleasant attitude and warm demeanor.
Josh Boesch, who worked with Vielma at Universal, told the Orlando Sentinel:
He was always a friend you could call. He was always open and available.
Vielma “just wanted to make people smile,” another co-worker, Olga Glomba, said.
Kimberly Morris, 37, moved to Orlando just months ago and had taken a job at Pulse nightclub as a bouncer, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
“She was so excited,” ex-girlfriend Starr Shelton told the newspaper.
She’d just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there.
Friends described Morris as a kind, sweet person.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say