Pulse Nightclub is the worst mass shooting in US History

Linda Rios/Contributing Writer

 

According to NBC News at least fifty people were shot dead and others were wounded Sunday morning at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The shooter identified as Omar Mateen was killed after keeping the officers at bay for three hours.

He was previously  investigated by federal authorities due to comments he had made about terrorism. So far, what has been released into the news tells us that the shooter had called 911 prior to the shooting and mentioned his devotion to ISIS, as well as the names of the bomber that were involved in the Boston bombing last year.

This massacre has been called the worst one in the history of the United States. Officials informed the public that the shooting took place at the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a.m. ET with the assailant carrying an AR-15 type rifle and a handgun.

City officials mentioned how at the time of the shooting, there had been around 300 people in the night club.

The first few names of the victims have been released as well as a couple of text messages that were exchanged between one of the men that were at the nightclub and his mother at the time of the attack.

The father of Mateen released a statement saying that the attack had nothing to do with religion, even though  Mateen had expressed his interest toward ISIS. The father also mentioned how his son had gotten upset when he saw two men kissing here in Miami a couple of months ago.

“This is an especially heartbreaking day for our friends, fellow Americans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” President Barack Obama said in a press conference Sunday afternoon.

This attack was made purely out of hatred toward the LGBTQA community, and instead of moving forward and being more accepting, it only seems as if we’re going backwards.

It must be considered that people that belong to the LGBTQA community already have it extremely hard to live their lives with no fear as to what others might say or do because they are out in public being themselves, and this act of hatred is a reassurance that they are still not safe enough to be accepted by everyone.

Having friends who are part of that community and hearing about the shooting breaks my heart because one can never be sure that one of them could be the next name that is called in the diseased list.

A statement was released by the Telegraph today about one of the victims who unfortunately died in the shooting. Luis Vielma was loved by everyone who had the luck of meeting him and was at the club last Sunday because he simply loved to dance.

Vielma worked at the Harry Potter ride in Universal Studios and had a bright future ahead of him. Due to the tragedy of his death, Harry Potter World employees decided to close the ride he worked at as a way to honor his death.

Luis and many other people who died in this horrible event will not be forgotten but remembered and seen as an example of what others are willing to do because of hatred toward other human beings that may not be the same.

There has to be a change in the mentality of the human population because if we keep going on like this, deciding to end or change everyone and everything that we may not agree with, where will we be in a couple of years and what will be left behind?
If you want to help out the wounded victims of this attack officials are asking members of the community to donate blood because there isn’t enough in the hospital blood banks for every single victim.

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