She said she was too afraid to reply, but another black person hiding in the bathroom did. Carter says, he then went on to shoot and kill three more people before police stormed into the bathroom.
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She described hearing gunman Omar Mateen’s calls to 911, and his explanation to the dispatcher that he was shooting because he wanted America to stop bombing his country. She heard him pledge allegiance to ISIS, terror group, and say his attack was a response to us military actions in Afghanistan. “I don’t feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from other people”.
Carter described the terrifying moments when Mateen entered the bathroom and started shooting, leaving people injured on the floor.
Inside Orlando Regional Medical Center, a trauma surgeon said it was surreal. “My friend and I ran to the bathroom in the rear”.
“We knew what his motive was”.
WATCH: Orlando shooting survivor Angel Santiago hid in washroom in attempt to escape gunman’s bullets.
– Dan Billow (@DanBillowWESH)Patience Carter says 3 other people shielded her with their bodies. “I was just prepared to stay there, lying down, so he won’t know I’m alive”. It just kept getting louder, closer. As the world mourns, the victims killed and viciously slain, I feel guilty about screaming about my legs in pain. “By this time, I couldn’t walk at all”.
Santiago said his friend was also shot along with “other fatalities that were evident nearly immediately”. Carter read a poem that ended: “The guilt of being alive is heavy”.
The police eventually breached the barricade and killed the gunman before he shot any more hostages. Colon said he tried to lay down on the ground so the shooter would think he was dead.
“He came back executing people on the floor”, Colon said. Sandy Mukerjee said. Dr. Smith says Sunday was the worst night of his career and the best because of how the team responded. “This is not a drill”. During the stampede, he was shot three times in the leg and fell down.
I’m looking up and some cop – I wish I could remember his face or his name, because to this day I am grateful for him – he looks at me and makes sure that I’m alive. “I said, ‘God, if this is how I have to go, please take me, I just don’t want any more shots”.
“We continue to hear gunfire”, Santiago recalled.
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“At first I was hesitant to come out here, because it’s all so fresh for me”, Colon said Tuesday, surrounded by his siblings. “I’m next, I’m dead”.
