The White House said Tuesday it has no plans to lift restrictions on gay men who want to donate blood in the wake of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
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Framingham native Angel Colon, 26, said he was having a drink with friends when shots rang out inside Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning. “All I could hear was the shotgun, one after another. And then he shoots me again and hits the side of my hip”, Colon said. Everyone started screaming and running, and Colon says he was shot three times in the leg.
Colon still has a long road to recovery ahead, telling reporters he has no plans to ever return to that nightclub, but he won’t let the shooter steal his innocence, either. “I hear him come back, and he’s shooting everyone that’s already dead on the floor, and making sure they’re dead”, he said. Carter said she could hear the gunman Omar Mateen speaking to 911, saying he was retaliating for USA bombings in his country, then pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. The wounded arrived in waves, about 20, including Colon, after Mateen first opened fire, and roughly the same number about two hours later after police killed the shooter in a hail of gunfire after a rescue operation.
People ran over him while trying to get away, he said. I hear him come back, he’s shooting everyone down on the floor. What he didn’t know at the time: The gunman, Omar Mateen, was not finished. And he was injured once more being dragged to safety over shards of broken glass.
Colon described how a police officer saved his life. “I was just prepared to stay there laying down so he won’t know I’m alive”. And then more, and more still, until people bleeding from gunshot wounds were lining up inside the Orlando Regional Medical Center.
“If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be here”, Colon said to the staff of the hospital, his voice shaking with emotion.
“I will tell you we have the best nurses in the world, there is no question in my mind … I just keep replaying that in my head”, he said. “The cop starts to drag him out”. All say patients were evaluated and treated quickly.
“Four to five patients came in that we were unable to save”, said Smith.
“This hospital is awesome”, he said.
According to Cheatham, who called the situation at the hospital “very fluid”, of the 44 patients brought to the medical center, 27 still remain hospitalized.
“All the patients who since arrived at the hospital are still with us, they are steadily improving”, Cheatham said. Six are in critical condition, and the death toll could go higher in the coming days, said Dr. Michael Cheatham, chief surgical quality officer for ORMC.
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The first victim of the nightclub shooting to reach the hospital was relatively stable, and doctors working the overnight shift hoped any others would arrive in a similar condition.
