Mother shares texts from son trapped in Orlando gay bar shooting
In the aftermath of Monday’s mass shooting inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida , a worried mother has detailed a series of disturbing texts she had received from his son, who was trapped inside a bathroom when the massacre took place and who remains unaccounted for.
A lone shooter whom police identified as Omar Mateen gunned down 50 people and left at least 53 injured, while taking dozens of people hostage, according to a report from The Telegraph.
READ: 50 dead in Florida nightclub shooting, worst in US history
Among the captives was Mina Justice’s son Eddie, who sent his mother a string of terrified text messages while he was hiding in the women’s bathroom along with other petrified party-goers, the outlet reported.
“Mommy I love you,” the first message said at around 2:06 a.m. “In club they shooting.”
Justice, who was half awake at the time, reportedly called her 30-year-old son but he did not answer. Instead, she sent him a message: ”U ok”
Article continues after this advertisementHis son quickly replied, “Trapp in bathroom.”
Article continues after this advertisementHe then texted his mother to call the police, and identified his location.
“Pulse. Downtown. Call police. I’m gonna die.”
Now wide awake, Justice dialed 911 and sent a flurry of texts over the next several minutes.
“I’m calling them now. U still in there. Answer our damn phone. Call them. Call me”, she wrote consecutively.
After almost half an hour from the initial message, Eddie responded: “Call them mommy. Now. He’s coming. I’m gonna die.”
Justice then asked her son if anyone was hurt and which bathroom he was in.
“Lots. Yes,” he responded at 2:42 a.m.
When he didn’t text back, she sent several more messages.
“Text me please,” she wrote. “No,” he wrote four minutes later. “Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us.”
At 2:49 a.m., she told him the police were there and to let her know when he saw them.
“Hurry,” he wrote. “He’s in the bathroom with us.”
She asked, “Is the man in the bathroom wit u?”
At 2:50 a.m.: “He’s a terror.”
Then, a final text from her son a minute later: “Yes.”
More than 15 hours after that text, Justice reportedly still hadn’t heard from her son.
“His name has not come up yet and that’s scary,” she was quoted as saying in the report. “It’s just, I got this feeling. I got a bad feeling.”
It remains unclear if Eddie survived the attack, as of this story’s writing. Khristian Ibarrola
RELATED STORY
