Gary Testor executive director of the Catholic Chrities of Central Florida, went to mass the morning after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. He head that there had been a shooting but the information was sketchy at the time. At about 10:15AM he got a text message from the chancellor of the dioceses, Carol Brinati, that Deacon David Grey was going to call. The call came at about 11am. David was at the Hampton Inn with other clergy. He needed counselors. Ten minutes later he called back and had realized that there was a need for Spanish speaking professionals.
It was chaotic at the Hampton inn and translators were needed. Gary called Debbie Cruz to arrange to get translators on site by 1pm.
Joel Stinera,was called by Debbie and then Rosa. He drove down to the Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) and arrived about 2 or 3pm. Family were waiting for news about their loved ones who may have been shot. It was crowded and disorganized. The experience was overwhelming and sad. He tried to comfort the family’s and friends of the victims. Someone stood at a podium and started reading the names of the people at the hospital. After the list was read they said, “Well, if your family member wasn’t mentioned, they didn’t make it.” This was all in English. Many did not understand. Family cried. When family actually got news the chaos got worse. That experience marked him for life.
Julio Rivera saw the news on Facebook. His family began to call checking to see if he was OK. He flipped on the TV and couldn’t believe what he saw. Debbie Cruz contacted him and asked him to get downtown as well. People met at the Catholic Charities office and they went together to the Hampton Inn Hotel. They entered through the back door of the hotel. There was no security. They walked a long hallway with people crying, yelling and laying on the floor. He recognized some people, including former clients and talked to them. A doctor of director from hospital announced the names. The victims were in two different hospitals. The first names were people who were in stable but critical condition. Every announcement was in English. No one was translating. Julio tried to shout his translations over the chaos.
The second round was names of people at ORMC, in critical condition. People were advised to talk to a representative, but again this as all in English. People shouted, “Shut up we can not hear!” If a name was not announced then they did not have information about that person or they are deceased. When the translator announced that true chaos broke out. There was screaming crying and people hitting the walls. There was a lady on the floor and he gave her a bottle of water and tried to comfort her. The chief or police got u to the podium and said he understood the situation. He asked for time because they were still investigating. By that time no one was listening. It isn’t what you say, but how you say it and there was no compassion in the announcements. People who heard their loved ones names left for the hospitals. Everyone else stayed and waited. There was some media inside taking pictures. Julio stayed until about 7:30pm.