This post discusses the shooting that took place at the Pulse
Nightclub on June 12, 2016. It contains difficult content, so please do
not read on if you feel you may be effected.
This article and sketch have been posted with the express written
permission of the interviewee and is summarized from their own interview. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously.
At the time of the Pulse shooting Nathan Orozco was 18 years old. To celebrate his birthday he and friends were doing a club a night. He had been waiting years for the chance to step into a club. It was his first night going Pulse.
He was not familiar with the club. He got there about 11:30pm. The exits he saw were blocked off. There was the hip hop room, the main stage, and outside, and he spent most of his time outside.
Nathan isn’t exactly sure when the shooting started, but about 1am there
was one last call for alcohol. When two friends went in to the hip hop
room for their last drinks, he heard the first gun shots from outside. Everybody dropped to the floor.
When the shooting started he found his way to the employee hallway. There were so many people crushed into that one hallway. That is when he heard the AR-15. Had the shooter turned to shoot down that hallway he would have shot at least 150 people.
Once outside, Nathan had to break the fence and jump over to the mechanic shop next door. There was another guy who managed to punch through the white fence as well. Many people made it out though there. The shots got so close. From outside it was possible to tell where the shots were coming from, but in the club it was a lot harder to tell because of the echo. Nathan also had to jump over the mechanic shop fence to get across the street and get out. People were trampling each other. He did all this while carrying Ross, who was one of the dancers that night. Ross who is tiny, was wearing nothing but a jock strap. People were jumping over him. So Nathan carried him across the street. When Ross was safe, Nathan went back to find his friends who both survived.
Once outside, the police were already flooding the streets. Across the street was the 7-11 and a Einstein Beagles. Everyone was moved to the back of Einsteins Bagels. At that time an explosion went off in order to break through the wall of the club. After that, bullets were flying towards the survivors so they had to move them to the back of the neighborhood that was behind the 7-11. From there he waited it out. A bus came to pick everyone up and bring them to the police department where they gave their statements. It was a surreal experience.
He didn’t get to the police station until 8 am. That means that for about 7 hours he stood outside the club witnessing everything. The cops were doing all that they could, but they should have moved survivors further back because bullets were still flying.
The next day at 2 am a friend texted and told him which friends had died. Nathan has a tattoo which depicts three birds to represent his friends, a skull in a tree, and the Pulse symbol. The tattoo continues to evolve. He watched one friend, who had been shot like 6 times, die right in front of him that night. His friend lay there for about 10 to 15 minutes and it seemed like an eternity before his body was loaded into an ambulance.
Nathan was grazed by one bullet which cracked two of his ribs. The
doctor decided to let the ribs heal on their own. Nathan didn’t notice
the wound until a year after Pulse, when the rib pains started. He would
touch them and found the ribs to be soft like mashed potatoes. The doctor felt
they would harden in time. One friend he was standing right next to that
night passed away. They had been dancing together. As soon as everybody
dropped to the floor, he never saw that friend again.
The Pulse survivors and their stories helped Nathan get through it all. No one knows what you are going through but the people who went through it with you. It is not hard to find yourself again when you are around the right people. He tries to avoid survivors who used the shooting to make a name for themselves. He only went to one Pride event in Boston where 23 survivors spoke about the need to curb gun violence. It is never easy. He still has flashbacks. Loud bangs can cause it all to flood back.
Watching all the police and military going in suited up to save peoples lives was inspiring. He decided to take a pre-Asvab test for the navy and he passed with an 86. Now he just needs to get his diploma so he can be in the navy.