Grieving family members and loved ones gathered at Orlando’s Beardall Senior Center early Monday morning to seek final word on the fate of the victims of Sunday’s massacre at Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were killed and another 53 were injured.
They came and went in pairs or groups at the senior center, just a kilometer and a half from the nightclub, their heads bowed low, shielding their faces from journalists’ cameras. Many clung to one another. Some wore sunglasses to obscure tears.
“We need prayers for everyone,” said a Latino relative between sobs.
“No more hate,” a woman rejoined, “or discrimination.”
By daylight, 37 had heard the news they did not want to hear about the deaths of loved ones. More trickled in throughout the day.
A block away from Pulse, standing in front of the yellow tape that kept the club cordoned off, Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Central Florida talked about the “horrific” 24 hours he’d endured, which included only 15 minutes of sleep.
A crowd, mostly journalists, stood in the mind-numbing heat at Orange and Grant streets. Volunteers came by with water. Overhead, helicopters circled nonstop.
DeCarlo had not had time to process his own grief. He knew two people on the list of victims and said his heart was breaking, but that he’d mourn when he finally got home. In the meantime, he was involved with caring for his community, an effort that included providing counseling for anyone who needed it and raising money to help the victims of the massacre.
“Those families who have people in the hospital are not going to have to worry about a hospital bill,” he said. “Burial costs, whatever. Everything is going to be covered for those families of the victims in the club or in the hospital. The outpouring of love from around the world has just been incredible.”