Horrifying accounts of Orlando nightclub shooting have begun to emerge, with survivors recounting the terrible moments that followed the first gunshots.
Chris Hansen
Chris Hansen, another survivor, told Today how he escaped, and even helped someone else by ‘shoving’ his bandana in their bullet hole.
“I was on the edge by the bathroom … kind of facing the bar, and as the gunman came in he was shooting towards the dance floor, so it was easier for me to get out,” Hansen said. “After a couple shots, you just hear the ‘bang, bang, bang’ and you’re like, ‘OK, this isn’t the song. This is reality.’ And you hear the screaming and you see the blood and the guy next to me falls over … and you see those in the VIP area going down … and then that’s when I go down and I’m like, ‘I’ve got to crawl out of here’ … I wasn’t running … I’m not gonna be a moving target,”
He added that “everybody was scrambling out.”
Chris Jean
Chris Jean saved his two friends, and himself. He told ABC of his escape from the club:
“I opened the door and I made sure there was no-one outside waiting for us so they could shoot us.
“I grabbed one of my best friend’s hands and I tried to grab the other one also but he was so traumatised he just kept standing around. Then I opened the door, that’s when I started running, but I made sure the door was wide open for others.
“Everybody was just laying on the floor, trying to duck. Some people ran to the bathroom also but for me, my first reaction was to just open the door and then just to run out.”
@GoEmili0
This Twitter user tweeted his location in the hopes that police would find him.
Luis Burbano
A witness, Luis Burbano, told CNN about helping someone else at the events.
“I saw he had a bullet wound in his arm and side,” he said.
“So I ripped my shirt to make a tourniquet and stop the bleeding. He was Jacksonville, so I was talking to him, trying to keep him awake.
“I saw another guy and he was trying to get back in to look for his friend. He had, I kid you not, a bullet sticking out of him. So I ripped my shirt again.
“Then we were told to get away from there.”
Brandon Wolf
At the scene, Brandon Wolf was also tweeting about the events. He has since described what happened, and called for gun control after discovering his two best friends passed away.
As it currently stands, 49 people died at the scene (not including the gunman, which takes the count up to 50), and 53 people were injured. The horrifying incident was the biggest mass shooting in US history.
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