Orlando shooting terrifies distraught families

As soon as it was possible, survivors fled the Orlando night club where a gunman had mowed down dozens of people with a semi-automatic rifle.

Some carrying the wounded, many of them caked in blood.

Family and friends rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center desperate for news about victims.

“My son was in the nightclub with his boyfriend and other friends and I know that his boyfriend has been shot multiple times and is in the Emergency room. But I don’t know where my son is no one can tell me where my son is,” a distraught family of a victim said.

Another relative said: “I don’t know anything. They’re not telling us anything. I just know she called me and told me she was shot in her arm. And she was screaming and hollering, and I don’t know anything else.”

Nearby, a church service was held for the victims. Police have asked for locals to wait before holding more public vigils due to the strain put on police resources.

In the meantime, Orlando’s Mayor Buddy Dyer vowed “We will not be defined by this act of terror”.

Euronews