Mother of Orlando club patron reacts to texts from son1:16
A US mother waits for news of her son after receiving chilling texts from the bathroom of the Orlando club.
‘He’s coming. I’m gonna die’: Terrifying texts Orlando hostage sent to mother during shooting
A MOTHER has shared the texts she received from her terrified son who was trapped inside the Florida nightclub after a gunman opened fire on revellers.
Mina Justice was outside the Pulse Club in Orlando trying to contact her 30-year-old son Eddie Justice, who texted her when the gunshots erupted and asked her to call police.
In the chilling text message exchange, Eddie told his mother, “Mommy I love you”, before saying he was hiding in the bathroom with other patrons.
“He’s coming,” one text message read. “I’m gonna die”.
“The next text said: ‘He has us, and he’s in here with us,’” Mina Justice told reporters outside the nightclub while desperately awaiting more information about her son. “That was the last conversation.”
The texts were received at around 2.45am on Sunday, local time, not long after a suspected Islamic terrorist stormed the gay nightclub, killing about 50 people and injuring 53 in the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Law enforcement sources have since identified the gunman as 29-year-old Omar Saddiqui Mateen, a US citizen of Afghani descent from Port St Lucie, Florida.
Screengrabs of the texts between Mina Justice and Eddie Justice, obtained by WFTV, reveal the desperate mother’s reply to her son, telling him: “They say stay them (sic) is anybody hurt. Which bathroom u in”.
Ms Justice told WOFL that her son told her he was being held hostage inside a women’s bathroom and that she was worried he was going to die.
“I think it’s all of them in the bathroom. I could hear a lot of people crying,” she told the station, recalling a phone conversation with her son.
Ms Justice did not know if her son was safe when speaking with reporters outside the club.
It remains unclear if he made it out of the nightclub safely.
Another woman, Christine Leinonen, drove to Orlando at 4am after learning of the shooting from a friend of her 32-year-old son, Christopher Leinonen, who was at the nightclub. Ms Leinonen has not heard from her son and he is still missing.
“These are nonsensical killings of our children,” she told AAP. “They’re killing our babies!”
She said her son’s friend Brandon Wolf survived by hiding in a bathroom and running out as the bullets flew.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he has asked the governor to declare the shooting, which coincided with gay pride month in the US, “a state of emergency”.
More than 300 people were packed inside Pulse, which bills itself as “the hottest gay bar” in the city, when the shooting was reported minutes after 2am Sunday, local time.
The nightclub posted on its own Facebook page shortly afterwards: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running.”
In addition to those killed inside the club, at least 53 people were taken to hospitals in the area. Up to 30 partygoers remained hostages in the club for several hours after the initial shooting. The bloody scene ended hours later after SWAT teams stormed the club and exchanged gunfire with the attacker to rescue the hostages.
Orlando police tweeted that the gunman had been killed shortly after 6am.
In a press conference on Sunday morning, police confirmed “every source in the FBI would be brought to bear”, as they would be investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. However it is not clear if it was a homophobic or Islamist attack.
Relatives and friends gathered outside the hospitals to learn the fate of loved ones.
Long Lines Form At Blood Donation Centers In Orlando0:09
In the aftermath of a mass shooting that, according to police, left 50 people dead and over 50 injured at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, hospitals called for blood donations. Blood centers across the city quickly become flooded with long lines, with some lines reportedly reaching up to 600 people long. Orlando Health, a non-profit network of area hospitals, urged locals to donate blood at donation centers or blood banks and not come to the hospitals. Despite the overwhelming turnout of Floridians lining up to donate blood, many aired their frustration and anger over the continued ban on gay men donating blood in light of the attack on the gay community. Locations of blood donation banks in Florida can be found here. Credit: Instagram/Mackenzie Chase
Originally published as ‘He’s coming. I’m gonna die’