Day 1 of the Noor Salman Trial.

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Courtroom sketches are available to purchase for use by the media. No phones allowed in court. Text or call (407) four five zero – 0807. I will get in touch after court lets out. 



Day one of the Noor Slaman trial held at the Federal Court building in Downtown Orlando was a solid day of jury selection. AS an update,  Salman is the widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at Pulse Nightclub on June 12, 2016. She is standing trial for aiding and abetting her husband. I got to the courthouse in the afternoon. Across the street from the entrance to the courthouse was a lone protester holding a sign that said something like “Fry her until she doesn’t have a Pulse.”

I have been covering the trial to date as a courtroom artist, but the day I was supposed to pick up my press badge, I was told that another artist underbid me for the assignment for the local media. It came as a shock since no one negotiated with me to iron out any details. Getting through security was awkward since I was no longer with the press. I was a private citizen wanting to sit in on the proceedings, but I also had a sketchbook. That sketchbook became the issue. The guards didn’t know what to do with me. I was told to go up to the press overflow court but the guard there had to send me back downstairs for a press badge at the clerks office. The clerk sent me to the main courtroom since I explained that I wasn’t press, but the guard there wouldn’t let me in with a sketchbook. I believe the issue was that the judge doesn’t want any jurors sketched. I understand the concern and wouldn’t have sketched a juror but it is day one and everyone is trying to get there bearings. The guards were a delight honestly. It was fun to joke about my plight as a rogue artist. I ultimately ended up in the press room having been issued a press pass. My press badge says that I am working for Channel 6 News. Another courtroom was set aside for survivors and family of victims. That arrangement is set up to keep the press and family separate.

I was told by an Orlando Sentinel reporter that only 4 jurors had been interviewed in the morning. By the end of the day 10 jurors were interviewed. Judge Byron had picked up the pace by the afternoon when I arrived. Each juror is issued a number to  maintain their privacy. Juror #1 was of the opinion that police are quick to judge sometimes. She had been profiled in her youth and it stuck with her. Juror #35 had a step daughter who was arrested in South Florida. She said her daughter served just a couple of weeks in prison and has grown up since. When asked about what she felt about recreational shooting of a gun at a gun range, she stopped and asked why someone would want to shoot a gun at a range. She was pretty sure she would hold it against Noor if she knew that the defendant had shot a gun at a gun range for fun and recreation. Juror # 6 had experienced grand theft and domestic abuse. She said that in Brooklyn where she came from it was a rite of passage to get your car stolen at some point. She also had a daughter who had several co-workers who died at Pulse.

Of the 10 prospective jurors interviewed, 6 were selected to possible be on the jury of 12. On Friday March 2, 2018 the plan is for 14 more prospective jurors to be interviewed. 60 potential jurors will be put in the juror pool before it is narrowed down to 12 jurors and 6 alternates. Judge Paul G. Byron asked all the questions and by the end of the day his voice was giving out a bit. Jury selection could take 7 to 10 days with the case being closed possibly by the first week of April. Although I never got into the courtroom, I could see on the monitors that the room wasn’t full. That gives me hope that someday I will get into the courtroom as a citizen with a sketchbook. I was shocked that the place wasn’t crowded. But the national media outlets don’t find jury selection very sexy. They will come out in force once the details of the case are being presented.

Noor Salman Federal Court hearing.

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Noor Salman, the wife of Omar Mateen, the Pulse Nightclub shooter was in Federal Court in Orlando on Thursday for a pre-trial hearing. Federal prosecutors say that she knew that her husband was going to attack Pulse on the evening of June 12, 2016. This hearing was set to decide which evidence could be allowed in the court case which should begin March 1, 2018. The hearing was set to  decide what evidence jurors could see or not see at the trial.

The defense wants to include testimony from a man nicknamed Nemo who is a friend of Omar’s, and he was used as an alibi when Omar was cheating on his wife. Salman told the FBI that her husband went to have dinner with Nemo on the night of the attack. Prosecutors argue that Noor came up with the Nemo story. She send a text to her husband on the night of the attack, saying, “If ur mom calls, say Nemo invited you out and Noor wants to stay home.” Was this a cover story, or was it a statement based on what she believed to be true? Nemo plans to plead the 5th amendment id asked to take the stand.

Dr. Bruce Frumkin a forensic clinical psychologist from Miami who specializes in Miranda rights and false confessions made statement to the effect that Salman was intellectually impaired. The prosecutors feel that she is in no way impaired and that statements she made on the evening of June 12 are accurate and incriminating. The doctor will be allowed to testify in March.

The defense had no objections  to evidence of the purchase of a rifle and ammunition at Walmart, or the purchase of airplane tickets and a $7000 diamond ring for Noor. She was signed up for Women, Infants, and
Children (WIC)  a special supplemental nutrition program for low income families that provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods,
health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income women. The defense argued that showing that Noor benefited from the horrific Pulse Nightclub attack would anger the jury. The judge countered that in arson cases, there are certain red flags such as the purchase of life insurance. Mateen might have made these large purchases knowing he would not be around to pay off the maxed out credit card. Mateen and Salman’s bank account records will be allowed in court.

The defense wanted to exclude video that showed the couple and their child driving to Disney Springs which is alleged to have been a possible target for the attack. The 6 minute video was shown but only lawyers and the judge could see the screens. The video also showed the couple going to a mosque that evening. The prosecutors were concerned that the child was kept up so late. Defense attorney Swift argued that they obviously aren’t familiar with Ramadan, were worshipers fast all day and then stay up late eating and gathering together. “This is not a case against Islam” judge Byron stated. I found it interesting that the defense has a new attorney who wears a hijab which is a veil worn by some Muslim women in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family. This is a visual clue that made it seem like Noors’ religion is under attack. The judge stated that a church is just a church and the evidence would be allowed.

The defense argued that all the video shot inside the nightclub on the night of the attack was prejudicial and should not be allowed. There is so much police video footage, that it seems redundant to show it all. He said that no one denies that what happened that night was horrible, but that evidence should be limited to what Salman did to aid and abet that attack. “Lets have Ms. Salman’s trial not Omar Mateens’.” said her attorney Charles Swift.

The defense also wanted photos of the couple smiling at a gun range removed as evidence, arguing that it was inflammatory. The judge however said that he has photos of himself at a gun range and that such photos are common. If a juror were upset by a photo of someone smiling at a gun range, they would be weeded out in the jury selection process.

On the evening of the attack, Omar brought a hand gun from his security job to the club. This was a violation of his security company job. That gun was left in the van on the night of the attack. Noor Slamans’ gun range membership card will also be allowed to be shown in the March trial.

Salman has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she could face life in prison. 

Noor Zahi Salman Evidence Suppression Hearing.

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Noor Salman walked into the Federal Courtroom with shackles around her ankles.  She wore a suit and had her hair clipped back in a pony tail.  The two guards escorting her were in black suits.  When she was seated, they stooped below her table and removed the shackles. Noor was the wife of Omar Mateen who killed 49 people and injured 68 others in the Pulse Nightclub massacre.  Salman is charged with aiding and abetting her husband, and obstruction for allegedly misleading investigators in Fort Pierce. She has pleaded not guilty to these charges. This hearing on December 21st was being held so her lawyers could attempt to suppress evidence obtained by the FBI that would incriminate her.  The judge on the bench was Paul G. Byron.

The first witness was Andrew Brennen who, at the time of the shooting, was working as an extra security guard at Native Nightclub in Downtown Orlando.  He is now a retired Master Sargent with the Orlando Police Department who had been in charge of digital forensics and crisis/hostage negotiations.  When he heard of the shooting, he immediately shut down Native Nightclub because a mass murderer could potentially target other clubs on a shooting spree.  He immediately drove down to Pulse to help.  He was moved to the communications center.  Within minutes, a dispatcher received a call from someone claiming to be the shooter.  Exhibits 1A and 1B were presented which were audio and transcripts of Mateen’s call.  Brennan then attempted both successful and unsuccessful contact with Omar 77 times.  At 2:49 AM Omar told Brennan to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and that they were killing innocent women and children.  Brennan then asked if Omar had done anything yet, in an attempt to verify that he was indeed the gunman. Brennan acquired Omar’s name and started using it, saying that using a name can build rapport and more meaningful dialogue.  In another call Omar claimed there was a bomb in a vehicle with enough explosives to take out an entire city block.

The second witness was Lieutenant William Hall from the Fort Pierce Police Department.  At 3:13 AM he received a call from the Orlando Police Department asking him to check 2513 South 17th street, Apartment 107 in Fort Pierce and to be wary of possible explosives and booby traps.  They formulated a plan and one hour later called the residence.  A female answered.  Officers wearing bullet proof vests approached the apartment from a guarded position at the end of a hall with guns drawn.  Noor Salman was requested to exit the apartment and she did, wearing pajamas. When she exited, Hall lowered his AR50 riffle and handed it off to another officer.   She was asked if anyone else was inside and she answered that just her 3 year old son was.  Police entered the residence and, after a visual check, found no explosives.  Hall wanted to evacuate her from the apartment and she asked if she could change.  He allowed her to change in her bedroom, unaccompanied by police.  When she came back out, Hall was surprised when she pulled out a cell phone which could potentially be used to detonate a bomb. In cross examination he changed his story saying the phone had been on the table and Noor asked if she could bring it along.  Noor was not touched or cuffed.  She was escorted to his unmarked Crown Victoria police car and he had her sit in the backseat with the AC running and the car door open.  Her son went to sleep in the back seat next to her.  Out of the blue, Salman said that her husband was very careful with guns and that he would never hurt anybody. No officer had mentioned guns or bodily harm by her husband.  The main point of contention during this time is if Noor felt she was was under arrest.  She was not cuffed and had not been read her Miranda rights.

Any media inquiries to purchase courtroom sketches should call or
text (407) four five zero-0807. I am out of touch while in the
courthouse. I will get back in touch ASAP.

 The third witness was Mustafa Abasin, the brother in law of the shooter.  FBI had visited him on the Morning of June 12.  Salman’s son Zachariah needed to be picked up and Abasin has 2 sons, so it made sense for him to pick up her son since he already had a child car seat.  Mustafa was asked many questions about how he felt Noor was treated when he picked up her son.  He didn’t recall any aggression, officers didn’t block her from his view and they weren’t mean in any way when he was there.  That night Salman came to his home to pick up her son.  She was crying and claimed that the FBI threatened to hold her son if she didn’t tell them what was happening.

The fourth witness was Paul Ostillo who has been an Orlando Resident Agency FBI agent and bomb technician for ten years.  He also worked in counter terrorism.  At 3:40 AM he received a call from the Orange County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad and was authorized to assist.  He arrived at Pulse at 4:40 AM and saw squad cars, victims, survivors, and first responders everywhere.  He made his way to the command post south of Pulse.  Exhibit 26 was a diagram of the Pulse Nightclub.  Ostello pointed out where the gunman was barricaded and where the gunman’s car was in relation to the club.  He went to his vehicle to retrieve his tactical gear.  He heard an explosion which he later learned was an attempt to breach the club wall.  Explosive breaching is when SWAT uses controlled explosives to enter a structure, in this case the West wall of the club between bathrooms.  The explosion created a small portal and victims were quickly being extricated and being patted down for weapons or possible bobby traps.  People were assessed for injuries for about 10 minutes before gun shots were heard from inside the club.  SWAT threw in flash points and then shot Mateen.

Mateen’s vehicle was inspected for bombs.  All that was found was ammunition. A van that size could have held 1,000 pounds of explosives which would have devastated the entire club and surrounding area.  When they saw Omar’s downed body, they saw what appeared to be wires beneath his pant legs.  They could be part of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device.) All living victims had to be removed from the club before a robot could remotely inspect the body. Three robots were used to inspect the club and the car before officers could approach.  Mateen had fallen down onto an exit sign, the wires were not part of a bomb.   The robots manipulated the gunman’s body.  Images of his body were flashed on the courtroom computer screens.  Noor Salman never glanced at the screen choosing instead to write on her yellow legal pad.  The purpose of the video and photos was to show the extremity of the situation and to show that the actions of the Fort Pierce police were justified.

The judge insisted that any evidence showing victims would have to be redacted before it could be submitted as evidence. No evidence was suppressed during this morning session. Judge Byron called for a lunch break. 

Pecha Kucha at the Dr. Phillips Center of the Performing Arts.

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Pecha Kucha, which means chit chat in Japanese, is an evening of high speed series of presentations by local residents about a wide range of subjects. The talks are kept short because the Power Point Presentations can only consist of 20 slides. Presenters then only have 20 seconds to discuss each slide. In the past I had done one presentation myself and it is a challenge to edit back what can be presented. Rehearsals help in trimming the talks back. What remains is bare bones poetry.

The theme of the May 26th presentation was “We Need to Talk.” Billy Manes was a presenter on this evening. Billy was one of Orlando’s most dynamic and entertaining journalists. He says exactly what is on his mind. on this night he wore a grey suit, pink tie and a rainbow ribbon in memory of the Pulse Nightclub victims. His personal life story was instrumental in the fight for marriage equality for gay couples. Later this year, we were all shocked when he passed away.

One presentation involved picking people from the audience to give improvised presentations to 20 slides. The images were not related in any way and what people came up with to tie the slides together was hilarious.

Tisse Mallon and Jack Graham gave a joint presentation about living room theater. Jack performed on his guitar, which was a great way to tie up their presentation. One presenter talked about the Trump protests and the slide I liked the most had a protester holding a sign that said, “So bad even introverts are here.”

The next Pecha Kucha night, Volume 21, will be on December 1, 2017 at the Dr. Phillips Center of the Performing Arts (445 S. Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL 32801). The theme for the evening will be “Building a Better Man.” Performances will be at 6 PM and 9 PM. Tickets are available now. These community events tend to sell out. Trust me, it is a great way to discover what amazing things are happening in Orlando.

George Wilson discusses his Photojournalism following the Pulse shooting.

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Orlando is George Wilson‘s adopted home town. His wife works for Disney. It was in the 1980’s that George began to shoot news work.

On June 12, 2016 when he heard about the Pulse Nightclub shooting his first impulse was to go straight to the nightclub. The closest he could get was to park at Orange Avenue and Michigan Street. All of the press were gathered a Chipolte. His first photo was of an Orlando Strong sign being put up on the MacDonald’s sign on Orange Avenue. He overheard a first responder talking about all the unanswered cell phones ringing incessantly inside the club, never to be answered. The camera became a barrier between the photographer and the event or the emotion of the event. Only later when he was alone and editing all the photos would the emotions well up.

One of his photos was of three girls, Jordan Tarquino, Lola Selsky, and Megan Boetto who often went to Pulse nightclub. When they saw each other outside the crime scene they all hugged, thankful to find that they all were alive. The Dr. Phillips memorial was his most emotional story. Strangers hugged each other and cried together.

Georges photos were picked up by Deutsche Presse Agentur, the German Press Agency, and distributed around the world as far away as Bangladesh. The power of the Internet and the photograph puts news and events in front of everyone around the globe. The Internet offers news in short snippets which doesn’t allow us  to become attached to anything.

George never felt unsafe while shooting his photos. The LGBT Community Center had a sign on the door on the first day that said, “We will search bags.” Fear had replaced the security the Center had once been able to offer. George applied for a Pulitzer prize for his photojournalist work following Pulse. Although he didn’t win the award, he was glad he got to share his story for consideration.

He donated a collection of photos, cover sheets from publications from around the world in various languages and copies of his Pulitzer application. The newspaper cover sheets were utilized in the Orlando Regional History Center‘s One Year After Exhibition to let people see just some of the international outpouring of love that followed the shooting. Orlando now has the misfortune of being a location the largest mass shooting in American history. Georges photos help the world to
understand our pain, our suffering, and our resolve to try and make it
stop here.

An Interview with Billy Manes at Watermark.

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On June 30th Pam Schwartz, Dan Bradfield and I entered the Watermark offices to conduct an oral history with editor-in-chief Billy Manes about the events following the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Billy grew up in Florida and was a bit of a club kid.  He suffered much adversity and sexual abuse in his childhood. At the time, he felt that Florida is a place without history, so you have to make your own history.  In 2005 he ran for mayor, being the first openly gay candidate to do so. He felt he was the best choice to replace the then suspended Mayor
Buddy Dyer specifically because he’s not a politician.

He met Alan Jordan who was very different than himself and they had a long relationship. “We were very Burt and Taylor in our relationship.” said Billy. On Easter Sunday of 2012 Alan shot himself in front of Billy. Alan had HIV but didn’t want to admit he was positive. Billy watched his love die in front of him. Alan’s family took everything a redneck could need, despite the long relationship, even threatening to take the ring off of Billy’s finger. Billy fought them in court and won back some of his possessions. He decided to become more purposeful about these issues. “Trying to save someone else saved me.” said Billy. There is a documentary that was filmed entitled ” Billy and Alan“.

As a senior writer at the Orlando Weekly, Billy found his voice as he made jokes about Tallahassee government policy which is often, “so fucking boring”. Billy Manes was hired by the Watermark in 2015. As I sketched, I found the black blinds strangely ominous. He coughed once, and Pam commiserated since she had a cough for 6 months after cleaning up dead flowers and collecting items at the Pulse Memorial sites for the One Orlando Collection.

“I only remember 5AM on June 12th.” Billy said. He used to work there, when it was Dante’s. He was friends with the owners and staff. It wasn’t “divey” at all. It was a good place to come together. At 5 AM his husband Anthony Mauss woke up. He told Billy not to look at his phone. Billy of course looked at his phone and was immediately pulled on for an MSNBC interview. Unshaven and uncombed he spoke with Tamron Hall. As he spoke, he realized that he didn’t know if his friends were alive who worked at Pulse.

This was a hate crime and Billy was annoyed at any news organization that would white-wash this fact by playing up the terrorist theories. On that first morning, a mother drove by and she asked if her son was alive. Billy said he would try and find out.

After Pulse, the whole tone, everything changed. Billy suddenly found
himself in a whirlwind of interviews by over 7 networks in the days
following. Watermark approached the following weeks with a three step
program. They did a glossy cover, a story about the psychology behind
the attack and stories about the need for gun control. In the barrage of
activity, he stopped caring about himself. Watermark was at every
event. Billy reflected, “It is still amazing to me. You can say 49, but
imagine the moms and families having to deal with probate, the law.”

Our oral history interview was just an hour long. We wanted to get together for a second interview to grapple with the intricacies of the weeks following Pulse in more depth. Shortly after this interview Billy Manes said he was “let go” from Watermark on Friday, July 14th. In a Facebook post on the following Sunday Billy shared, “I was effectively let go on Friday and it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t psychologically easy. I wanted to give Watermark the chance to break the news. Not sure why, but it was fair enough. Best to the future editor and please keep up…the work. I’ll figure something new. I always do.”

Billy died just after 4 p.m. on Friday, July 21, at the age of 45,
surrounded by his husband Anthony Mauss, friends and family at Orlando
Regional Medical Center.

The loss is a shock to me. Billy and I were both born on May 22 and he playfully reminded me of this each year via Facebook.  Having lived through so much tragedy, Billy always injected humor into every exchange. He will be deeply missed. He helped to write Orlando’s history while joking about the political forces that stifle Orlando’s future.

The One Orlando De-install

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On June 12th The Orange County Regional History Center mounted an exhibit that showcased items left behind one year ago at the various memorial sites that appeared in the aftermath of the horrific Pulse Nightclub shooting that took 49 lives and left Orlando with open scars that could take a lifetime to heal. Museum curator Pam Schwartz asked me to share some of the sketches I have done in the last year that document Orlando’s attempts to recover. I sketched at as many vigils and fundraisers as possible so that I could come to terms with reality utilizing the only tool I had which was sketching.

The exhibition was assembled from the items collected by the History Center in the weeks and months after the tragedy. For 37 days, museum staff sweated in the hot Florida sun collecting for the museum and scraping up melted wax so that people wouldn’t slip and fall at memorial site. Items left at memorial sites had to be conserved and documented for posterity’s sake. When you go to a memorial, you don’t read every condolence card, but that was their job. It is an emotionally taxing responsibility to record history in the face of tragedy.  One hundred years from now these relics will be a hint at how we as a community came together to heal.

Instead of one set of rosary beads, there was a whole case full. One case was layered full of rubber bracelets. Instead of exhibiting one t-shirt design, a whole wall was covered. Instead of exhibiting one sketch by an illustrative journalist, an entire wall was covered. 49 wooden crosses were crowded into the far corner of the exhibition space. A sign warned that some items might be emotionally challenging to view.

Shortly after the shooting, Pam, the chief curator, realized that an exhibit space needed to be booked for an exhibit one year after the tragedy. She reserved the room but it was only available for one week because a wedding was also slated to go in the same room on the following week. This was the largest exhibit ever created in house by the museum staff using items from the museum’s own collection. The staff rose to the challenge. The amount of work needed to create the exhibit was staggering but it got done. On the opening night victim’s families and survivors were given a private preview. On that night over 450 people showed up. More than 3,000 people viewed the collection in the one week it was open.

I stopped in on the final day as the staff took everything off the walls. In one day the walls were once again bare to be spackled and painted for the wedding reception. The 49 portraits created by local artists were mounted behind Plexiglas, so they came down in three large sections and would later be stored away in a portfolio in the archives. Display cases were left for the next week when the items would be stored away in acid free museum boxes in the archives. Within two days the room would once again be barren. This was without a doubt the most well attended exhibit in years, but it
was only available to be seen for one week. The history was swept aside
because catering was considered a priority. This gorgeous old courthouse can’t decide if it is an accredited history museum or an events hall.

Pulse: One Year Later.

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On June 12th one year ago 49 people lost their lives in a horrific attack by a gunman at Pulse Nightclub. June 12th people gathered a Pulse for Reflections and Remembrance. Throughout the day, members of the community visited to honor the legacies of the 49 victims, their families and the survivors. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there was be a ceremony including various community speakers, reflective prayers, a reading of the 49 names, a display of 49 wreaths and music by Violectric. The Inspiration Orlando mural, our Angel Force, Hang-a-Heart, Stars of Hope and comfort dogs were present.

It was raining just enough to make sketching difficult. Watercolor and rain aren’t a great combination. The first thing I saw when approaching Pulse was the huge Inspiration Orlando Mural. 6 foot high marine grade boards were mounted on a large sheet of plywood and supported in back by 2 by 4s nailed as braces. At the Mural, a victim’s father was animatedly talking to Michael Pilato the artist. The father was upset that his daughter’s partner was depicted large on the mural. Another father had refused to bury his son. A daughter eventually stepped in to take on the responsibility. When it came time to collect the money raised for families however, the father was happy to take the money.

As I did this sketch, I was offered water and You Matter cards multiple times. Someone even offered MacDonald’s hamburgers and I kind of regretted not taking one. A mom had her daughter dressed in a bright rainbow tutu and they paraded around the site. A young girl across from me, wearing a rainbow cape,  was giving out free hugs. A reporter set up his TV camera and started asking  her questions. “We will not let hate win” was emblazoned on multiple posters and banners. 

While driving away, I passed a hate monger in front of the auto detailing shop next to Pulse. He was surrounded by people who were getting upset. They shouted Love will overcome hate loud enough to drown out his hate filled chants. Police were on hand and I was told that he toughed a policeman which is interpreted as an assault. 5 policemen wrestled the man to the ground while people shouted their message of love delivered with anger. It was a shame that the Angel Force had left because they could have surrounded the man.

I felt a bit depressed since it felt like most people were here looking for some form of attention or acknowledgment. Was I any different? Will these sketches ever serve a purpose? I was just growing frustrated and annoyed that the rain was making my job near impossible. I pushed through regardless. Any blotches and blemishes are all part of the story of creation.

The Human Rainbow

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On June 11th, one year after the horrific hate crime that took 49 lives at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, body painters gatherer at the Other Bar (18 Wall St, Orlando, Florida 32801) in Downtown Orlando to paint 49 models each a different color of the rainbow. The models each represented the lives lost last year during the Pulse Tragedy. The bar was packed and I had to sketch fast since, I had to get to the Shakespeare theater to see O-Town in which monologues based on interviews showed how local residents raised themselves up after the tragedy. 

Mandi Ilene Schiff of Base Orlando organized the event which was similar to a body painting event held last year. Each body painter was assigned a color and once a model was painted, another would quickly take their place. There was no time to waste when there were 49 bodies that needed to be covered in pigments. It was a triage of rainbow colors. After models were painted, they move to the other side of the bar where an impromptu rainbow dance party broke out. A body painter’s shirt read, “We Are One.”

Nix Herrera was painting blue people, and I focused my attention on the body painter in an American flag t-shirt that was painting her model orange. The body painter’s husband watched me work and he was in charge of making sure models were lined up ready to be painted. With so much color and sensuality it was at times easy to forget the somber reason for the artistic effort. Outside the bar the 49 gathered and posed in line for the full effect of the 49 person rainbow as it illuminated the grey afternoon.

Christopher Hanson talks about surviving the Pulse Nightclub attack.

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Christopher Hanson grew up in a small town that was just a 20 minute drive away from where Mathew Shephard was brutally murdered for being gay. On a vacation to Orlando her remembered gong to Universal and seeing rows of cherry blossom trees. It was a gorgeous sight and he decided at that moment that he would move to the City Beautiful. To him the trees symbolized universal love.

On the evening of June 12, 2016, he decided to put on his $3 American flag t-shirt and go to the Pulse nightclub for the first and only time to dance. Since the red striped ran vertically he felt the shirt thinned him a bit. He was new in town and hoped to meet new friends. His roommates didn’t want to go. At 11PM his GPS made him pull into the club driveway the wrong way. At 11:08PM he had to pay for a $10 wrist band. He remembers because he had just missed the opportunity to avoid the cover. He walked through a curtain of beads to enter the club. “I want those beads” he thought to himself. He was meeting someone for a date and was an hour late. The gentleman who was a doctor wasn’t pleased and he left. In the Adonis room dancers in jock straps and tennis shoes dances on the bar. “Wow” Christopher thought, “This is the kind of place I love to find.” In a trip to the bathrooms, he thought to himself that the windows were rather small because he couldn’t slip away from his date if he wanted to.

He ordered another double Jack and Ginger. It was Latin Night, so he couldn’t talk to many people, but music is a universal language. He spoke to Kate the bartender. There was an underwear contest and the straight guy won with his denim underwear. After a few drinks and he leaned up against the wall to steady himself. J Low’s song, “International” was playing.  He heard a Pow, Pow Pow sound. He moved to the beat thinking it was the bass. Then there was a repetition of bullets and he heard screaming. There was the sound of the liquor bar glass shattering. People fell to the floor around him and he dropped himself. Blood spattered. He saw the flashes from the barrel of the gun. He wasn’t shot, so he crawled past the bathroom. People were running inside, but he knew that they had no way out. People stepped on him and over him to get out to the patio. The person to the left of him was shot. Outside on the patio, he stood. People were pushing against a fence gate to try and get out. It didn’t open. He was amazed to find that the drink was still in his hand. He put the cup down. People crushed up against the closed gate until it finally gave way. Outside, a police office was pointing his weapon at the nightclub entrance.

Outside on a curb, Christopher helped a Spanish speaking man named who was shot twice. He took off his bandana and shoved it into a bullet hole to help slow the bleeding. Blood was bubbling up, boiling. He used his phone to call his dad, saying, “I’m alive.” A girl was lying on the grass. She said, “Get me out of the grass.” There were no medical gloves. She had been shot in the arm and back. He didn’t know about the wound in her back but after he cradled her in his lap, he realized that the pressure from his legs might have slowed the bleeding from her back wound. Mina Justice was in the street looking for her son who was inside in the bathroom. She got a text from him that said, “I love you.” “I’ll never forget her face,” Christopher said, “I remember passing the bathroom and thought, there is no way out.” I hugged her and had to say, “It will be OK.” He knew it was not going to be OK, and he sat down and broke down for the first time.