"It was horrifying not knowing if you were going to make it out."From: NewNowNext
As media was learning the names of the 49 victims who tragically lost their lives at Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning, those who made it out of the club alive are beginning to tell their stories as well.
Monday night, during a special broadcast dedicated to the victims of the massacre, which has been named the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, CNN’s Anderson Cooper read through a list of the victims and read what information he had about their lives.
At one point during the broadcast, Cooper also interviewed Norman Casiano, a survivor who recounted the moments he spent with others in the club’s bathroom:
An #Orlando attack survivor who hid in the bathroom during the shooting shares his terrifying ordeal: https://t.co/9aNVuHr8cb— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 14, 2016
The man described a general sense of chaos that broke out in the club as shots first started firing. He recounts having to cram into an empty bathroom stall with 20-30 people and, most chillingly, remembers in detail how the killer laughed throughout his killing spree.
“Once he shot him, [the gunman] laughed, and that’s something that’s imprinted in my head for the rest of my life,” Casiano said. “I’ve literally been in the hospital for two days trying to sleep and one of the first things I hear when I close my eyes are guns, bullets hitting the floor, and just — that laugh.”
“It’s like a villain in a movie, it was a laugh of satisfaction, like ’I’m doing what I came here to do.'”
On HLN, Nancy Grace nearly broke down in tears interviewing Chris Hansen, another survivor from the club, who explained how he crawled to the back patio to escape.
“It’s horrifying,” he said. “It was horrifying not knowing if you were going to make it out, or if anybody was going to make it out.”
Through tears, #Orlando survivor describes crawling on his hands and stomach to escape (via @NancyGrace)https://t.co/CbSXpAGzF5— HLN (@HLNTV) June 14, 2016
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Belvedere recounted his story as well. Belvedere works at Pulse on a regular basis both in drag and as a bartender. His drag alter-ego, Axel Andrews, is Roxxxy Andrews’ drag daughter.
“To be honest, the noise was so loud, it sounded like it was on top of me. Your first reaction is to get down. It literally felt like the gunman was next to me,” said Belvedere, describing how some people were so drunk they were unable to realize the gravity of the situation.
Belvedere said that in order to protect himself and others who were able to cram into a secure back room, he stood at the doorway with a heavy chair, waiting to knock the killer out if he dared enter:
“I don’t know what happened, but I got into survival mode. Maybe because I didn’t see the gunner, I still kind of doubted it — I was scared — but I tried to think what I’d do if he came in the room. Everyone was hiding, but I stood on a chair beside the door and I picked up the heaviest chair in the room and held it above my head for a while, waiting for him to open the door. I was going to try to hit him with it.”
Below, a few more CNN reports in which survivors detail their experiences trying to escape the club:
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