Friends and family of those that may be injured are asked to reach out to ORMC.
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WESH-TV reported that several victims were loaded into ambulances outside Pulse, and a crisis negotiator was at the scene.
Jackie Smith was inside the club and says two friends next to her were shot. “I just said, ‘Please, please, please, I want to make it out, ‘” he said. “It went with the beat nearly until you heard like, too many shots”.
“I didn’t see any of the actual shooters”.
He said he went to Pulse often because it was a “safe environment where you could express yourself”. Mina said there was no indication that there was more than one shooter. “They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety”, the group said.
Update, 9:37 a.m.: People who were at the club during the shooting have told reporters that, when the shooting started, they thought it was just part of the music.
A police officer working “extra duties” at the club responded, joined by two other officers, who engaged the suspect in a gunbattle, Mina said.
Nine police officers were involved in the shooting incident and one was injured.
Police then marshaled forces, bringing in a SWAT team and an armored vehicle.
On its Twitter feed, the Police Department asked residents to “stay away from area” and said that it was seeking support from local state and federal agencies.
Reports suggest a heavily armed suspect exchanged fire with police around 2am local time before taking hostages inside the heavily packed Pulse Orlando, a popular gay club. Mina said that noise was caused by a device meant to distract the shooter. He said he ran out of the club. Antonetti said authorities were able to help save his brother, who he says is uninjured but still near the club.
“It was something that I never heard before”, Torres said. I’m tell I’m bathroom.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, tweeted: “Really bad shooting in Orlando”. Antonetti noticed when he made it out safe that he has blood smears on his shirt. He saw the wounded being tended to across the street. He then texted her: “He’s coming”. Everyone was getting on the floor.
Witness Christopher Hanson said he heard “loud banging noises, like gunshots going off”.
She said her son Eddie told her he was being held hostage inside a women’s bathroom and that he was going to die.
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When the shots erupted, Hansen hit the ground, crawling on his elbows and knees, before he spotted a man who had been shot.
