Dozens upon dozens of families feared the worst in Orlando Sunday as the day turned to nighttime with still no answer about their loved ones.
Raw emotional families could be seen outside Orlando Regional Medical Center that treated the majority of the victims from Club Pulse.
There were stories of survival, devastation, and so much death.
“I thought the worst… but thank God my son was one of the ones who actually made it through,” said Angel Colon of Lakeland.
Early this morning, Colon learned his son, who shares the same name, survived one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
He got shot three or four times in the leg, arm, and buttocks.
“Then he got shot again, and he just kind of lifted up his eyes and laid back down and that’s when he noticed that the girl who he was holding hands with had let go. He noticed she got shot and didn’t make it,” he said.
Colon said his son got a good look at the shooter, identified as Omar Mateen, right before he opened fire.
“They actually said they saw the guy in there drinking at the bar,” he said.
Eye witness accounts are often wrong during mass chaos, but if true it could mean Mateen went in first, then left and returned heavily armed.
Multiple reports said the shooting started outside the club.
Juan Torres’ son was one of the lucky ones.
“As soon as he started shooting, he ran towards the back and jumped the fence,” Torres said of his son.
But like so many leaving the hospital in tears Sunday evening, their pain — if not from physical wounds — emotional ones.
“He’s a wreck. Distraught,” Torres said.
His son is now waiting for news about his best friend, who wasn’t quite as lucky.
Around 5 o’clock today, medical staff went to the Hampton Inn, just down from the hospital to meet with the families.
They went over who is at the hospital, who’s in critical condition, and who has been released.
They have been told to return tomorrow at 10 am at the senior center, where they will reassess and at some point, meet with the medical examiner.
