Original subtitles

GUNFIRE. OH, MY GOD, THEY'RE SHOOTING BACK-AND-FORTH. So many

lives ended in minutes. We have shots fired. You're requested to

stay back, don't enter the scene. People killed by a gunman who fired

into crowds without mercy. We'd hear gunshot after gunshot after gunshot,

pop, pop, pop. It is the dead least mass shooting in recent US history.

As they ran out of the bathroom into the hallway, he started shooting

them and killing them right. There But this is not a film about

the killer. I could care less about him. I don't care anything about

him. I don't want to speak his name. I don't want to see his picture. I

don't want to do any of that. It's about the people inside the club

when the shooting started. I just had to leave my eyes open because I

was scared if I blinked he was going to shoot me in my face. I'm looking

around like, this is actually happening, oh, my God.

MUSIC It's Saturday night in Orlando.

Around 300 people are in Pulse, a gay nightclub. We all had worked

during the day that day. We were all off that night. We decided to go out

and have a good time. 26-year-old Angel Colon is out with his friends.

We just had a good night. It was a nice night, very calm, very chilled.

There was no drama. Doorman, Imran Yousuf, has just started working at

Pulse. He's an ex-US marine who served in Afghanistan. Saturday

nights are a Latin night. My favourite night. I love the music.

So, it was regular night. Miguel Lieva is out celebrating.

He's just recovered from cancer. It was packed. I mean elbow to elbow,

people dancing. Everybody's having a good time. In town on holiday, best

friends Tiara Parker and Patience Carter. They're with Tiara's cousin,

Akyra Murray. Me and Tiara have always been best friends. When I got

invited on this vacation, I made it, like, one of my plans was to get to

know Akyra better. She was a funny person. Chef was really sweet. --

she was really sweet. She captivated a room. I was just watching my

cousin and best friend. They were bonding. They were really enjoying

themselves. It was really a great night. We had the best time of our

lives. A gunman, armed with an assault

rifle and a handgun, walks into the club. Amanda Alvear is filming as

the shooting starts. Behind her people are being killed. Amanda

won't make it out alive either. We were on the main area, the main

floor, then out of nowhere we hear a big, loud gunshot. Was that really

gunshots? That's the only thing in my head. There's no way that was a

gunshot. There's no way. It kept going. We just start running and we

just hear gunshot after gunshot after gunshot - pop, pop, pop. I had

to take two steps into running and I was shot already. I can't move

anywhere, so I decided to take cover and stay on the floor. I'm looking

around and you just see the bodies flying down. He's shooting all over

the place. An off-duty police officer is outside the club. He

immediately looked where the gunshots were coming from and

engaged the suspect. The killer. He was armed with a handgun. The killer

was armed with a rifle, which is a lot more power than our handguns.

The shots started ringing out. We're like what is that? I stood froze. I

didn't know what to do. Then I realised that when the shots got

closer, I seen like wall chippings, like you know, I feel like wall

pieces are falling on my arms and I just couldn't believe what I was

seeing. Patience and Akyra manage to escape. I'm outside, but where's

Tiara? And she's like Tiara's inside. I'm just like, we've got to

go get Tiara. They go back into the club. It's a decision that will

change their lives. Inside the gunman is shooting into the crowd.

Imran is in a staff corridor at the back of the club. People started

pouring in. At this point, now, I'm cornered with everyone else and

we're all just like packed. It was distraught. Fear like you couldn't

even imagine, just eyes that were just bulging, just having no idea

what to do. They were just lost. Honestly, looking at those faces,

you can tell a lot of them accepted the reality. I mean, that they were

dead, there's no way out of here. But there is a way out, a security

door that club goers haven't seen. I am yelling, "Open the F-ing door." I

could hear the gunshots getting louder and closer. So, to me, it was

if I reach for this door, I'm going to get shot and die. I jumped over

the people that were there. I unlatched that door and I opened it.

Everyone started pouring out. The people caught in that corridor can

now get out. But dozens more are trapped in the toilets. Miguel is

one of them. He can hear the gunman talking. He says, "Everybody come

out because everybody's gonna die." So people listened to him and they

ran out of the bathroom. As they ran out of the bathroom into the

hallway, he just started shooting them and killing them right there.

Patience and Akyra have found Tiara and the three friends are hidden in

a stall in the other toilet. It's packed. The gunman is now moving

towards them. It wasn't even registering until like he came in

and started pop, pop, pop, pop... Looking around like, this is

actually happening, oh, my God. And we had to get on the floor of the

bathroom stall and I'm just like on the floor. I'm like, oh, my God.

This is actually happening. It was like shhh, shhh. Be quiet, be quiet!

I remember hearing him saying, "My gun's jammed." And I'm just like

shocked, like, so my Patience looks at me. I look at Patience, I look at

my cousin. And Patience is like we can jump him and get out of here. By

that time, the person that was holding onto the door got the memo

that was going to be the plan. When he opened the door the shooter shot

into the stall. Me Patience and Akyra were the first to get those

shots. Everybody occur rig around screaming like, "Please stop.

Please!" It wasn't until I looked down at my leg and I saw the blood,

just like coming out of my right thigh. I'm like - I've been shot.

The gunman is heading back to the dance floor, where Angel is lying

injured. He's been shot three times and his leg has been broken in the

stampede of people trying to get out. I have this lady now that has

fallen next to me. She's yelling. She's in pain. I tell her, "Grab my

arm. I got you. We're together in this, all right? She's Brenda McCool

a mother of 11 on a night out with one of her sons. I hear the

gunshots, now they're getting closer. Now he's back in the same

room that I'm in again. I don't see his face, but I notice all the

gunshots are slower, you know, ba, ba, ba. And I notice he's shooting

everyone that's on the floor, just making sure they're dead. I can feel

the heat of the gunshots getting closer, louder, closer and louder. I

look over and I see him shoot the girl next to me. I'm thinking, "I'm

next. I'm dead." I just hear the shots - ba, ba, ba. It was on me. I

feel my body jump. And I just feel the warm of the blood, all the blood

I'm losing. I'm like oh, my God. I can't believe he just shot me three

more times, like, what is going on? Oh, God. Right across from Pulse,

it's full of cops. A police team arrives at the club. It's been just

six minutes since the shooting was reported to them. They broke a

window, entered through the Southend of the building. They immediately

went into gunfire looking for the killer. They're shooting

back-and-forth. Vamanos. The entire OPD shows up, all of Orlando Police

department, just rushing down the road and blocking this entire area.

Shots are still going off. These officers are getting out with guns

and ready to start shooting. Oh, my God. They're all shooting

back-and-forth. The police assault forces the gunman to the back of the

club. Oh, my God. People are getting shot, dude. Let's get out of here,

man. Oh, my God. They see people on the dance floor. They see people

running out of the club, people bleeding, people needing help. They

moved in and they rescued a lot of people. It's probably pretty

horrific for them. I think they kind of put that aside, realised they

needed to move and get people out of the club. Mostly everyone's dead in

that room. I look up and I see an officer coming in. I look at him and

I'm like, "Please help me. Please help me. I'm on the floor. I can't

crawl. There's glass everywhere." He comes running to me and tells me,

"The only way we can get out is if I grab your hands and I drag you." I

was in shorts. I could just feel the glass all over my legs and my

bottom. It's just, I'm just telling him, "Please hurry. Hurry." He was

able to drag me across the street to the restaurant where all the

survivors and the bodies were. He drops me off there. I'm just laying

down and I'm looking at the sky and I'm like, oh, my God, I made it. The

police now have the gunman trapped in the toilets. The shooting stops.

But there are dozens of hostages, including Patience, Tiara and Akyra.

You're looking at somebody's face, their soul is just gone. Mood all

over the bottom -- blood all over the bottom of a toilet, that part of

the toilet was just blood all over it, just a hand, like blood all over

it. You look back, you could barely see, but you could see piles of

people on top of each other just as terrified and bloody as you are and

someone directly behind you scared to death. Then you just have to...

God, God, please. The gunman makes the first of four

calls to the police. You can hear him get on the phone with 911. He

pledge as leaningance to Isis. And we're just like, oh, my God, is this

seriously happening right now? Because this is the stuff that we

only see on TV. He says it's nothing personal towards you guys. He said,

I'm just trying to make my message heard. This is kind of like a

terrorist event, so it kind of raises the stakes a little bit,

because you know his only mission now is to kill as many people as he

can. Commander Heavy. Go ahead. I just saw you walking back behind. I

have a ballistic vest for any of our individuals that are entering the

red zone. After leading the escape, Imran starts helping other

survivors. IMRAN YUSUF: They were being brought

out by other people and so we went over there to help and we were told,

let's bring all the wounded to an area that

cops already set up. The nearest hospital

is only half a mile away. DR JOSEPH IBRAHIM: There

was a lot of blood. And these were massive

injuries, abdominal wounds, chest wounds, that he must

have been very close, with an assault rifle,

that I've not seen that before. ANGEL COLON: I was in the first

round that were able I was yelling at them,

"Turn me around, turn me They told me it was like a puzzle,

like how are we going to put this DR JOSEPH IBRAHIM: We had eight pass

away in the emergency department and one

on the way to the operating room. So, you know, having to stop,

with one patient so that you can move on to the next one,

that you could, potentially, save. That, that was the hardest part,

it's, you know, saying OK, In the toilet stalls,

phones keep ringing. PATIENCE CARTER: It was families

calling and they wanted Phones just kept ringing and text

messages kept going off and he said turn them off,

like, give me your phone, he didn't want anybody

to be on the phone. But some hostages are secretly

talking to the police. MIGUEL LIEVA: We were already

in contact with the negotiator, one of the guys was talking

to the negotiator, he was whispering So as we're, we're getting

the details from the Swat team they're telling us

that they were gonna come This is what's happening

in one of the toilets. MIGUEL LIEVA: There was nothing we

can do. We were just trying to be quiet

because so he didn't come The gunman's told them there's one

outside and he has a suicide vest. TIARA PARKER: He said I have

enough bombs that can take out a city block,

that's when I knew my life was over. The police Swat team stay

inside despite the bomb threat. CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: It didn't really

change their mission, they knew they had to get people

inside, they weren't really thinking of themselves because I think common

sense probably tells you - hey, if somebody has a bomb,

you need to back away. could have the Swat team to move,

I don't think they would have listened to me cos they knew

they had to stay where they were because there were people

inside that they could With the killer close by,

the police take a chance. They remove an air conditioning

unit, helping more CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: They push that

air-conditioning unit out a hole in the wall and pulled

people out of that hole. Obviously if you just push it,

it will fall and the killer will possibly know that

there's more people, A lot of coordination

went through that. The officers put themselves

in great peril. The people inside, I'm sure,

were terrified and to kind of maintain control and keep quiet

and listen to officers and do By now the police have full

control of the club ? The killer is outside the stall

where the three friends TIARA PARKER: I remember him bending

down and looking under like this and when I seen him do that I just

had to leave my eyes open because I was scared if I blinked

he was going to shoot me in my face. So I just stayed like this and I'm

guessing he must have thought PATIENCE CARTER: We were helpless,

we were completely helpless and that was the scariest thing

to see his feet just keep moving, He even said, "I got plenty

of bullets," at one point, clicking and reloading his gun,

tormenting us for hours CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: I was called

back to the command post to brief I told them that our best option

was to do an explosive breach on one The Chief said, "Let me

know when you're ready." PATIENCE CARTER: So time has passed,

time has passed and then all of a sudden out

of nowhere we hear this, like, explosion it sounded like,

and everyone just jumps, everybody in the bathroom stall

just, their whole, entire, everybody's entire body shakes

and I even think he shook CAPTAIN MARK CANTY:

They set the charge, the whole wall in as we expected

but it did kind of go through. PATIENCE CARTER: This speaker

goes off that says: "Get so we know that it's the police,

it's the police right there, TIARA PARKER: I thought the shooter

was blowing down the building PATIENCE CARTER: He comes

in our stall, says, "Hey you" CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: We used

our Bear Cat armoured vehicle which has a ram

on the front, to push They were able to make that hole

large enough to get people out and then they were able to get

several hostages out of that hole. MIGUEL LIEVA: I was the third person

out. When I got out I fell belly first

and I noticed that one of the guys we were trying to keep

alive the whole time they just left him there,

I guess they thought he was dead. So I'm like, "He's still alive, he's

still alive, and there's people." The last three people came out

behind me and the Swat team member So I grab his arm and his leg and I

was run...running, the gunman comes out through,

through the hole that they just CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: He's in that

hole, he's got guns in his hands and obviously points them

at our officers. PATIENCE CARTER: And then they say,

"Put your weapon down, put your weapon down,"

and he's not doing it TIARA PARKER: The shell casings

are like ricocheting off of things so, like, I'm getting burned,

it feels like the branding, like I'm getting branded,

like I just feel it. And I remember, after

that, I seen him die. They didn't even have

to confirm that. PATIENCE CARTER: Under the debris

of the wall and the, the stall in my face I'm just like,

is it over, is it over, TIARA PARKER: The sparks

stopped and this was really Patience and Tiara's friend,

Akyra, is barely alive. TIARA PARKER: I pulled

Akyra by her clothes onto my lap and I said,

"Akyra, get up, get up right now, get up, they're here,

they're here, get up." And I was just like,

you know, I grabbed her neck and she was still breathing,

I grabbed her hand and she didn't respond to me but I grabbed her hand

again and she clenched me back CAPTAIN MARK CANTY: He's a killer.

He's an evil killer. I think about the victims

and their families, I think about the city and how

the city is coming together. Those are the things that

I think about, I couldn't care less about him,

I don't care anything about him, I don't want to speak his name,

I don't want to see his picture - Across Orlando, there have been

memorials and vigils. But the city is still

grieving for its dead. MIGUEL LIEVA: And just to watch

so many people die for no reason is, People have described

you as a hero ? do IMRAN YUSUF: Real heroes,

a lot of them paid DR JOSEPH IBRAHIM: Yesterday,

leaving, I drove by, there's a memorial out here

on Lake Beauty, they have a bunch of memorials set up,

and seeing the friends and family coming together and crying over

someone you were potentially working Angel has been reunited with

the police officer who rescued him. I was one of the ones that helped

you get out of harm's way ANGEL COLON: Seeing that girl

get shot next to me. Because, actually, I found

out that the guy to my And he actually had called

me yesterday. "Now I can come to closure",

cos he knew that she died ANGEL COLON: And I was telling her,

it's going to be OK. PATIENCE CARTHER: Tiara

and her mother comes in. Miss Celeste, that's

Tiara's mum's name, she sits on the bed

next to my legs, Tiara's sitting

on the side of my hospital bed, you know, and everybody's calm

and then, Miss Celeste turns to me, TIARA PARKER: June 12th 2016 ?

I will never forget that date.