Massacre at the Pulse nightclub shakes the world
A gunman kills 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The worst hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community in the US.
On 12 June 2016 at 2.02 am, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen of Afghan descent, opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It was Latin Night, the weekly party night for the Latin American community. Around 300 people were in the club. Mateen entered with an assault rifle and a pistol and shot at guests and staff. What began as an active shooting turned into a hostage situation in one of the club's bathrooms that lasted for hours. At around 5 am, a police unit stormed the building and shot the perpetrator dead. 49 people died and 58 were injured. It remains the worst act of violence against the LGBTQ+ community in US history.
The club's name carries a deep history: owner Barbara Poma had founded Pulse in 2004 as a tribute to her brother John, who had died of AIDS in 1991. His heartbeat, his "pulse", was to live on in the club. For more than a decade, the venue was a centre for LGBTQ+ culture, HIV prevention and community work, and a safe place for people who often had none in the world outside.
Most of the 49 victims were of Latin American origin. Their deaths struck two communities at once. In the weeks and months that followed, a fierce debate erupted in the United States about gun laws, Islamist terrorism and hate crimes against queer people. In 2018, Governor Rick Scott officially declared 12 June Pulse Remembrance Day in Florida.