Jordan Coll / News Director
Jerald Arthur Wright was an innovator, a dreamer, a mayor of the block who was always careful in listening to the needs of others. But above all that, he was a caring son.
At the time of his death, he was a 31-year-old Disney World employee working merchandising in both Magic Kingdom and Tomorrowland.
He received a promotion two days before he was murdered by a 29-year-old man who opened fire with an assault rifle killing 48 and injuring 53 victims on June 12, 2016, at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando — It was the deadliest shooting in modern American history.
Five years later, some family members and loved ones still feel as if a part of them also died that day.
One of these is Jerry’s mother, Maria Wright, who says a part of her died when she witnessed her son’s vehicle parked outside of the club.
“Once I turned on the TV that morning and saw live aerial coverage of the nightclub, I noticed Jerry’s car outside of the [nightclub] and that’s when I knew,” said Mrs.Wright.
After the loss of their son, Jerry’s parents have dedicated the past five years to placing common-sense gun laws at the forefront of political discussion in congress. They have tried to raise awareness about the epidemic of gun violence by speaking to several audiences including Pride Orlando, LGBTQ groups in Maine, and Moms Demand Action, a gun reform organization among various others.
She recalls not hearing back from Jerry the previous night, which she found unusual considering Jerry checked in frequently.
“He would call us twice a day just to see what we were up to,” she said.
Fred Wright, Jerry’s father, remembers the times his son would call him “I would always answer ‘Yankee Stadium, center field, may I help you?” he said. Jerry would say “what’s the score?”
“We definitely miss his voice,” said Mr.Wright.
On Sunday morning, Jerry’s parents arrived in Orlando around 11:30 am calling the hospital hotlines praying that her son would not be among the victims.
“It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life, I remember saying on the drive up ‘whatever happens I will not let hate enter my heart’” said Mrs.Wright. “I packed a sweater, thinking in my mind that he would need it since hospitals are usually cold.”
The ride up to Orlando to visit their son at the happiest place on earth became a desperate search for their son’s survival.
When they arrived a family reunification center had been set up at a hotel lobby near the nightclub, where people were gathered as she described them as being “lifeless and just walking zombies.”
Several restaurants had provided food donations for the victims’ families and prayer groups were set up by members of the church. “No one knew anything. I just remember people walking up asking if I knew for sure he was there if I had a picture…again this is going back to that day,” said Mrs.Wright.
Mr. Wright told her to stay in the lobby while he visited several hospitals.
Later that evening Jerry’s parents had still not heard back from their son not knowing if he was there at the time of the shooting. They waited as a doctor stood on a table and started going over the names of the people in hospitals, in alphabetical order.
“While they read the names of the victims at the hospital his name didn’t come up,” said Mrs. Wright.
Jerry’s whereabouts were still unknown.
“We were told we’d have to wait—not to call, not to head over to the medical examiner—just to wait,” said Mrs.Wright. “During that time I just remember sitting there thinking his last name starts with W so he’ll be one of the last ones, and ironically praying that my child be so badly injured he couldn’t reach out to me, that’s what I’m praying for, cause the alternative was worse.”
On Monday around noon, authorities escorted Jerry’s parents to identify the body of their 31-year old son.
“At this point I’m looking over my dead child and I realized that there was Styrofoam over where his chest should be,” said Mrs.Wright. “I am just screaming, feeling as if my insides were gone.”
In that moment she was reminded of an act only the two of them knew, “Jerry would lightly pinch my shoulder as a kind gesture, I miss those moments,” she said.
Over 800 people attended her son’s funeral where she learned the same kindness he had shared with her he gave to others.
When she saw her son’s corpse “I felt like there was a whisper and I knew I wasn’t alone and that Jerry was ok giving me some form of peace,” she said.
“Jerry would be the type of person to out gentlemen me, he was an overall caring person,” said Xavi Navarro, one of 25 cousins in the Wright family. He is currently an associate attorney at the Alvarez law firm in Coral Gables.
“At his core, Jerry enjoyed helping and serving others,” according to Navarro. Growing up in Miami together and being the same age, he felt a certain closeness towards Jerry.
Splitting up during their formative years in college Navarro described Jerry’s drive to pursue hospitality in Disney World as being “the perfect fit for him,” he said.
Gun violence in the U.S. is a nationwide issue
A painting drawn by Aida Wright (Jerry’s youngest sister) wearing a hat on a trip to Ecuador 
Jerry Wright’s family portrait
A month after losing their child, Mr. and Mrs.Wright made their way to the steps of Capitol Hill demanding lawmakers to enact on stronger gun control laws and prevent another gun shooting massacre such as Pulse from happening again.
They focused their efforts in bringing gun issues to the political dialogue with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla along with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in cracking down on gun violence.
“We want to reduce gun violence, especially with what we are seeing today,” said Mr.Wright. “We are not asking to remove guns in the country, we just don’t want something like Pulse to happen ever again.”
The Wrights have also in their efforts to end gun violence reached out to EveryTown Survivor Network, part of the national Everytown for Safety coalition advocating an end to gun violence. They have pointed out that the U.S. Senate has dismissed their efforts due to the lack of support to pass legislation for gun reform.
“The politics are just so crazy and nobody wants to deviate from their own political agenda,” said Mr. Wright.
One of the actions taken by the Wrights is the effort to close a loophole that allows buyers in private transactions to purchase weapons without going through background checks. “It’s incredible, that this guy that took 49 lives at Pulse was given all this weaponry and he got it legally,” said Mr. Wright.
They have also wanted to put an end to gun sales to individuals who are on the nation’s “No-Fly” terrorist watch list, a championed list under the Obama administration.
Under this piece of legislation, it would prohibit known or suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. The list is overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.
Through the first five months of 2021, more than 8,100 nationwide were reported as gun violence-related cases, an average of 54 lives per day according to data collected from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization.
Around 48% of Americans consider gun violence to be a critical problem in the U.S. according to a survey conducted by PEW Research Center which surveyed 5,109 U.S. adults. Those who took part in the survey are a registered members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses.
The survey also indicated Americans were divided over whether restricting legal gun violence ownership would result in fewer mass shootings, according to the spring 2021 poll.
The U.S. is divided when it comes to gun control. About 49% say there would be fewer mass shootings if stricter gun laws were enacted, while 42% of individuals believe it would make no difference. A remainder of 9% said that there would be more mass shootings according to the poll.
FIU study showing LGBTQ hate crimes in Miami Dade
A study launched in 2018 by Florida International University associate professor of criminology and criminal justice Besiki Luka Kutateladze, in dedication of the mass shooting at Pulse, showed an estimated 3,859 violent and property offenses are committed against individuals who identified themselves as LGBTQ members in Miami annually.
“Particularly when it comes to minority groups, we see a lack of effective identification, investigation, and prosecution of LGBTQ-related hate crimes in Miami,” said Kutateladze.
He claims the criminal system is not adapted enough to filter hate crimes such as gender identity driven hate crimes or sexual orientation led.
Partnering with FIU’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Miami LGBTQ called SAVE, the Miami Dade State Attorney’s office, and the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Most of the LGBTQ-related hate crimes in Miami-Dade County typically go unreported, said Kutateladze. According to the report, ani-LGBTQ hate crimes are less likely to be reported by the police, than those motivated by racism or Islamophobia and Anti-semitism.
The reason?
Many of the victims limit themselves from reporting hate crimes related to their sexuality due to a fear of exposing their gender identity, feeling discriminated against, or “outed” by police officials.
In Miami-Dade county alone, 34% of the study’s respondents are still concerned with reporting their experiences to police and 85% of incidents were not reported. The data does not account for gun-related crimes directed towards the LGBTQ community.
With the sprawling trend of massive gun shootings in Miami-Dade, homicides were up 16% last year, with almost 25% of the victims under 21 according to a county summary from early May.
After five years since the tragedy, Maria and Fred Wright’s parents continue to keep Jerry’s memory alive advocating for stronger gun control.
“We’ve been doing this for five years. And I ask myself, I could almost hear Jerry say you guys need to take a break,” said Mrs.Wright.
About Post Author
