Emails and texts released by the Orlando Fire Department indicate that one of the exits at the Pulse nightclub was inoperable weeks before the massacre of 49 patrons by a gunman on June 12.
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The city of Orlando has not released audio recordings of the 911 calls or any video recorded by police cameras at the shooting scene.
But the records released Tuesday also suggest that the gay nightclub had twice the number of exits needed to accommodate its maximum occupancy of 300 patrons.
It’s unclear if the exit in question was still blocked on the night of the shooting.
“[Code enforcement] showed me a picture where the club owner had blocked the exit with a coke machine”, she wrote in one message.
“It was in the stack to be assigned”, Hughes wrote.
The last “company officer exit check” by the Orlando Fire Marshal was done on May 21, and one door was found to be inoperable.
Hughes says that was within a normal follow-up schedule.
The other records that were released on Tuesday included text messages sent between the Orlando police chief, fire chief and fire marshal; police and fire dispatch records; planning and permitting records; and previous history of code enforcement inspections at Pulse.
The calls came from Pulse nightclub’s bathrooms, attic, dressing room and office.
Seven minutes after the first call, the narrative notes one caller “is no longer responding, just an open line with moaning”. Dispatchers could hear gunshots over the phone. In a written statement the city said it has received hundreds of Public Records Act requests in the wake of the shooting and that it has been trying to expedite the distribution of material sought. Three other victims had been transported to other hospitals. People reported being shot in the arm, shoulder, leg, chest, stomach, according to the police log. Fire department spokeswoman Ashley Papagni backed up Benitez’s contention in an email Tuesday, but did not respond to a follow-up email seeking further clarification about the inspector’s report.
At 2:10 a.m., a line notes “making entrance at patio” – which may refer to what police have said was officers confronting Mateen in an initial gun battle.
Orlando fire’s bomb truck was called in at 4:06 a.m.
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