Even before the last bullet was fired from a madman’s gun, the city of Orlando’s been struggling to overcome the pain and suffering that somehow has united the city.
Every person ABC Action News talked to about the Pulse nightclub shooting and the year that’s followed wanted the world to know that quite simply, “love conquers hate.”
Buildings lit up in rainbow colors, faces painted with rainbows, and fountains proudly displaying the colors of love are all symbolic to what the city has become, a united front against terror.
“Love always wins no matter what,” Erangelis Santiago said. “We are white, black, Hispanic, whatever color, love always wins and that's the message I want to get out.”
Santiago was at Pulse the night of the shooting. She said she was with her wife and her in-laws celebrating her birthday. Santiago said they all left minutes before the shooting started. Santiago said she went back to the nightclub for the first time this week.
“I'm still shaking, yesterday we went there, and I couldn't handle it and it brings me back all the memories,” Santiago said. “Like being around all of them and suddenly hours later they are gone. That was our own safe haven. God took us out of there just in time.”
The 49 innocent victims are now remembered as angels. At the ceremony at Lake Eola Amphitheater there were 49 people dressed in all white with angel wings to honor the victims.
GALLERY: Remembering the 49 innocent victims of the Pulse attack
“Our tears have turned into love in Orlando,” said Sister Koochie Koo who is part of the non-profit group called the Orlando Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. “It's still a process. It's still a process we are all going through. Everyday, we are all going through it.”
At the end of the ceremony all 49 victims’ names were read out loud to the crowd:
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old
Amanda L. Alvear, 25 years old
Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26 years old
Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33 years old
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old
Angel Candelario-Padro, 28 years old
Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old
Cory James Connell, 21 years old
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old
Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31 years old
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old
Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22 years old
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old
Frank Hernandez, 27 years old
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old
Javier Jorge Reyes, 40 years old
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 years old
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old
Brenda Marquez McCool, 49 years old
Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25 years old
Kimberly Jean Morris, 37 years old
Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old
Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20 years old
Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25 years old
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old
Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27 years old
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35 years old
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old
Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24 years old
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old
Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old
Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24 years old
Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37 years old
Luis Sergio Vielma, 22 years old
Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50 years old
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old
