Victim vignettes: All full of life, now remembered in death

Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford, second from left, wait down the street from the scene of a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. Towns said his brother was hiding in a bathroom at the time. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

A GUNMAN wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday, leaving at least 49 people dead in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Here are stories of some of the victims.

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Akyra Murray, 18, recently graduated third in her high school class of 42 students, had scored 1,000 points on the basketball team and had signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mercyhurst University.

“She was very loving, caring, out to help anybody,” recalled her mother, Natalie Murray.

To celebrate her graduation, Akyra Murray, her parents and her 4-year-old sister traveled to Orlando. Murray wanted to party in downtown Orlando, and her parents dropped her off at Pulse at 11:30 p.m.

About 2 a.m., Murray sent a text message, saying that she and her cousins wanted to be picked up and there’d been a shooting. Moments later, the phone rang.

“… (S)he was screaming, saying she was losing a lot of blood,” Natalie Murray said.

She was hiding in a bathroom stall, her arm bleeding for hours with no medical treatment. Akyra Murray told her mother to call police.

They never spoke again.

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Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25, recently had found a job as a leasing agent for an Orlando apartment complex, said his friend, Jennifer Rodriguez.

“He had finally found something he liked. He was taking care of his mom,” she said of Fernandez, who was also her hair stylist and one of her best friends.

“He was like a brother,” she said. “He was just really very spirited and always happy, you know?”

Fernandez recently had been dating an older man, a dancer known by the stage name Eman Valentino, who also died in the shooting.

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Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35, went by Eman Valentino on the stage. He dressed elegantly in a cap, tie and gloves, collecting tips from the audience between high kicks and spins, according to a YouTube video.

Off the stage, Rosado had a young son who had graduated from pre-kindergarten.

“I have no words to express how proud and happy I am of my little boy,” Rosado wrote on Facebook recently about his son.

Yemil Royce, a friend, described Rosado as hard-working, talkative and friendly: “He was a lovely friend, brother and father.”

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Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26, went to Pulse nightclub almost every weekend, often with her best friend, Amanda Alvear.

“She was very outgoing,” her sister-in-law, Nancy Flores, said. “She had lots of friends.”

Mercedez Flores worked at Target, studied at a local community college and wanted to become a party planner so she could coordinate events with her two older brothers, who are both DJs.

Flores’ family spent hours waiting at Orlando Regional Medical Center, then a staging area at a nearby hotel. Someone read the names of victims still hospitalized or being released, and her name wasn’t on the list. Her father got a call early the next day from the sheriff’s office that his daughter had died, Nancy Flores said.

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Amanda Alvear, 25, and Mercedez Flores posted on Snapchat from the nightclub before the shooting.

Alvear’s friend Sandy Marte said one of Alvear’s Snapchats showed a packed club full of revelers. Another, a selfie video of Alvear with a series of gunshots in the background.

Marte and Alvear bonded over breakups and health problems.

“She was loving, she was caring, she always had an open ear, she always wanted to help people,” Marte said. “She had an amazing heart.”

Marte said he understands what it’s like to be at a nightclub during a shooting. He was at the Glitz Ultra Lounge in Orlando in February when two people were killed, and said he froze in place from the shock of it.

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Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20, wanted to be a star.

“He was one of the most amazing dancers,” his sister, Belinette Ocasio-Capo, said. “He would always call me and say, ‘I’m going to be the next Hollywood star.’ He really did want to make it and be known.

“Now his name ended up being all around the world, like he wanted — just not this way,” she said of her brother, a dancer who was working at a Starbucks while studying theater.

Omar, as he was known to family and friends, at first seemed brash to 70-year-old Claudia Mason, a co-worker, but after getting to know him, she said, “I realized he had a very outgoing personality.”

“His sense of humor was definitely his defining personality trait,” she said. “Omar got along with everyone. Young, old, male, female, gay, or straight, it didn’t matter to Omar.”

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Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30, tapped out a series of chilling text messages to his mother from a bathroom at Pulse, a 45-minute exchange that began with a message of love.

“Mommy I love you,” the first message to Mina Justice said at 2:06 a.m. The messages became more frantic as he told her the shooter was in the bathroom where he was hiding.

“He’s a terror,” her son wrote.

Eddie Justice normally was a homebody who liked to eat, workout and make everyone laugh, his mother said. He worked as an accountant.

“Lives in a sky house, like the Jeffersons,” his mother said she liked to say of his condominium.

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Miguel Honorato, 30, was a father of three who managed four restaurants in central Florida along with a side catering business. He was always the one to drop everything to help out his family, which included seven siblings.

His brother, Jose Honorato, wrote a simple, heartfelt message on his brother’s Facebook page: “Come home bro, I’m waiting for you.”

“He was my mentor and my supporter. He helped very much in my parent’s house and work,” Honorato said. Even though Miguel was younger, he gave sage advice about the family business, his brother said.

Jose Honorato changed his Facebook photo Monday to one of the two brothers smiling over a charcoal grill, one of many happy memories cooking together.

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Shane Tomlinson, 33, had a passion for singing, and had been the lead vocalist with “The Frequency Band” at a nightclub before going to Pulse, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“He was destined for a grand stage and he was doing exactly what he wanted to do,” said Dr. Lathan Turner, associate director of student transitions at East Carolina University, where Tomlinson graduated in 2003 with a degree in communication.

Tomlinson was a vibrant and charismatic lead vocalist, friends said.

“I’ve never met anyone like him,” said Carey Sobel, an Orlando resident who hired Tomlinson’s band to play for his upcoming wedding. “He was really special.”

Tarrick Cox, an adviser for East Carolina’s gospel choir who worked with Tomlinson, remembers his contagious personality and the laughter that surrounded him.

“He was gifted and creative. He was a go-getter,” Cox said in a statement from the university.

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Jonathan Camuy, 25, moved to Central Florida from Puerto Rico to work for the Spanish-language television network Telemundo. He was on the production team for “La Voz Kids,” a talent show for young singers in its fourth season.

“Jonathan was an extremely hard-working individual, full of life, enthusiastic and with a great personality,” the network said in a statement. “He will be missed dearly.”

Camuy was also active in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which called him “one of our own” in a statement about his death.

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Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22, known among family and friends as “Ommy,” was always the life of the party.

“Peter makes a difference everywhere he goes. He was a happy person. If Peter is not at the party, no one wants to go,” his aunt, Sonia Cruz, said.

Gonzalez-Cruz, who worked at UPS, went to Pulse with his best friend, 25-year-old Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez.

After news of the mass shooting emerged, Sonia Cruz said she held out hope for hours that her nephew would turn up in a hospital bed. The family was later told he and Menendez were among those killed.

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Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25, moved to Orlando a few years ago, his cousin, Irma Silva-Lauer, told the Orlando Sentinel.

He was an only child and “the light and the life of all the family gatherings,” Silva-Lauer said.

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Edward Sotomayor, 34, was a caring, energetic man known for wearing a silly top hat on cruises, according to David Sotomayor, who said the two discovered they were cousins after meeting at Orlando’s annual Gay Days festival around a decade ago.

Edward worked for a company that held gay cruises and often traveled to promote the company’s events, said David Sotomayor.

“He was just always part of the fun,” David Sotomayor said.

David Sotomayor is a drag queen who appeared on a season of the reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” using the name “Jade.”

The two texted regularly and kept in touch via Facebook messages, last seeing each other this year at a filming of reality show. They last exchanged messages late last week.

“You never think that’s going to be the last time you speak to him,” Sotomayor said. “It’s just heartbreaking to know it just can happen anytime.”

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Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, told his cousin, Robert Guerrero, that he was gay about two years ago. But he was worried about how the rest of his family would react, and did not tell them until just before the beginning of this year.

“They were very accepting,” said Robert Guerrero, 19. “As long as he was happy, they were OK with it.”

He got concerned after hearing of the shooting at Pulse, where he knew his cousin would go to every once in a while.

Juan Guerrero was a telemarketer, in recent months he started attending college at the University of Central Florida and was in a relationship with someone his relatives regarded as part of the family, Robert Guerrero said.

“… (H)e was like a big brother to me,” he said. “He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew.”

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Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25, had a drive for success, which was reflected in his inspirational Facebook posts — “2016 will be the best year ever.”

“Whatever goal he had in mind, he worked hard. Whether alone or on a team, he worked on that goal,” Chavis Crosby told the Orlando Sentinel.

Tevin Crosby was director of operations for a Michigan marketing firm who’d recently visited family in Statesville, North Carolina, to watch several nieces and nephews graduate.

Then, he traveled to Orlando after passing along some brotherly advice about business and setting goals. He loved to travel for work and fun, Chavis Crosby said.

“He was definitely a good person and a good brother to me,” he said.

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Stanley Almodovar III, 23, had tomato-and-cheese dip prepared by his mother to eat when he came home from his night out.

Instead, Rosalie Ramos was awakened by a call telling her something had happened.

Ramos told the Orlando Sentinel that her son, a pharmacy technician, posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to Pulse nightclub.

“I wish I had that (video) to remember him forever,” she told the newspaper.

A friend, Hazel Ramirez, told the Washington Post she also saw a video from Almodovar on Snapchat. She described Almodovar as “kind, but sassy,” and someone who was comfortable with his sexual identity.

“He was so proud of who he was,” she told the Post. “He would do his makeup better than anyone else. It was so easy to be myself with him.”

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Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25, started dancing at the age of 10 and was comfortable with any number of styles, from salsa to ballroom, his cousin Ana Figueroa said.

Figueroa told the Orlando Sentinel that Laureano Disla invited her out for a night of dancing at Pulse nightclub, but she told him she was too tired.

He was out with two roommates, both of whom were injured in the shooting, she said. The newspaper did not identify the roommates.

Born in Puerto Rico, Laureano Disla moved to Orlando about three years ago to become a dancer and choreographer, Figueroa said.

“I want people to remember Anthony as someone who was very happy and very kind,” Figueroa said. “This is just devastating for our family and his friends.”

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Kimberly “KJ” Morris, 37, moved to Orlando months ago and worked at Pulse as a bouncer, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“She was so excited,” ex-girlfriend Starr Shelton told the newspaper. “She’d just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there.”

Narvell Benning met Morris when they were in college at Post University, where they both played basketball.

“I can’t think of a time when I did not see a smile on her face,” Benning told the Sentinel. “I’m so thankful of the good memories I have of her.”

Liz Lamoureux, 34, told The Associated Press in a statement that Morris was one of her sister’s best friends and a true friend to her entire family: “What did KJ die for? Being gay and going to work? It just makes no sense — her life amounts to so much more than that.”

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Luis Vielma, 22, was well-loved and worked at Universal Studios, friends said.

High school friend Eddi Anderson told the Tampa Bay Times that Vielma loved his job at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and was known for his pleasant attitude and warm demeanor.

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books that spawned the movies and section of the theme park, tweeted a picture of Vielma in a Hogwarts school tie, and said: “I can’t stop crying.”

“He was always a friend you could call. He was always open and available, Josh Boesch, who worked with Vielma, told the Orlando Sentinel.

Vielma “just wanted to make people smile,” said another co-worker, Olga Glomba.

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Christopher Leinonen, 32, went to the club with his friend Brandon Wolf when the shooting started.

Wolf texted Leinonen’s mother to say a shooting had occurred and her son was missing.

Christine Leinonen drove to Orlando at 4 a.m. from Polk County, southwest of the city. When she arrived, she began checking emergency rooms to find her son. She never did.

“These are nonsensical killings of our children,” she said, sobbing. “They’re killing our babies!”

She said Wolf survived by hiding in a bathroom and running out as the bullets flew.

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Enrique Rios, 25, had come from Brooklyn to Orlando to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Even though his mother, Gertrude Merced, says that her heart is broken, she has already forgiven the gunman.

“I’m not angry at the gunman. I’m angry about the situation. I’m going to forever miss my son … but I still have the hope that I’m going to see him again one day,” Merced told reporters as she packed her bags outside her New York apartment and headed to Florida.

Rios’ Facebook page says he worked with a home health care agency, and his mother said he had a heart for helping the elderly. He was studying social work.

Family and friends said he was determined, always helping others and had a heart of gold.

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Angel Candelario-Padro, 28, moved to Orlando from Chicago in January to be closer to family. The nurse and National Guard member soon found a new job and a new love.

“He was a humble boy, a good student. He liked to work and wasn’t too much into partying,” his aunt Leticia Padro told Univision.

Candelario-Padro’s boyfriend, who was shot several times, told her that after hearing several shots he turned to Candelario-Padro and asked if he was OK.

“He told him he was OK, but in that instant he fell to the floor,” Padro said.

Candelario-Padro loved music and had played the clarinet in a band in his hometown of Guanica, Puerto Rico, according to uncle Efrain Padro.

“We’re waiting for his body to be brought home,” he said, “We will welcome him with music.”

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Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32, moved to Florida from Mexico in the early 2000s in search of a better life.

He went back to his home state of Veracruz for several years but returned to Tampa less than a year ago, relatives and friends said.

“We came because here in the United States there are many opportunities here and because we were fleeing because in our country there was a lot of crime, violence and death … and we expect it should be more peaceful here,” his cousin Jose Paniagua told Newsday.

The construction worker was looking forward to meeting friends at Pulse for another night of dancing — something he loved to do, friend Lorena Barragan told the Orlando Sentinel.

“He was the best,” said Barragan, who met Rayon Paniagua at church. “He was loyal. He was always trying to do stuff to make you feel better.”