Speak Out : Pulse Hero Recalls Night of Horror
It’s been four months since the shooting in the Orlando nightclub Pulse claimed 49 members of the LGBT community, and even until now its effect are being felt. During Hillary Clinton’s political rallies, much was made about the presence of the shooter’s father in the background. Donald Trump has used the shooting to push for his gun agenda.
But lost in all the politicization are stories like that of Imran Yousuf, considered as one of the heroes of the Pulse shooting. In an interview with The Advocate, Yousuf talks about that terrible night, and how his own time as a Marine who served in Afghanistan helped save 70 lives that night.
On the night of the shooting, Yousuf recalls being at the back of the bar doing his last-call walkthrough of the club when he hear the shots coming from the shooters AR-15 assault rifle. He says it felt like time had slowed down, and that everyone was packed into a back corridor and frozen in place.
It’s a good thing that Yousuf’s own survival instinct kicked in, as he was able to marshal the people and shepherd them towards the bar’s back door that he had kicked open. According to him, some of the people were so overwhelmed by what was happening that they had crouched outside the bar as soon as they were out, and had to be prompted to go as far away from the scene as possible.
While Yousuf was able to save his life and many others, even he isn’t safe from the heartbreak that the Pulse nightclub shooting has brought to so many in the community. Fellow bouncer Kimberly “KJ” Morris was one of Yousuf’s friends, and she unfortunately also lost her life that night.
It was only Yousuf’s own experiences with loss as a Marine that helped him deal with what happened. “I was able to kind of be there for some of the other people [who] don’t know how to do that because they never had to,” he tells The Advocate.
Are you satisfied with how the government has responded to gun control or the needs of the LGBT community since the Pulse shooting happened? What do you think should be done to prevent this from happening again? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
You can blatantly see that this Orlando shooting was set up and orchestrated by the pentagon and or CIA as a pretext for more airstrikes in Syria. You know, because the United States needs a good excuse to invade a country that they want to control. Just like Iraq. This is a way of getting gays to support the government’s foreign policy pretext for more perpetual war. War for oil, and western hegemonic dominance in the middle east. Omar Marteen was an actor, and his father was a CIA asset, who subsequently attended one of Hillary Clinton’s rallies. The gay community are easy prey for these psychopaths due to their willingness to fall for these things. This is called crisis initiation, and has been used by despotic governments for decades. ….okay, I just googled the guy in the above article…..and he is an actor too!!!…..this is all some really sick shit. Don’t fall for this deceptive propaganda. Love and strength to the gay community.
you smoke good weed my friend.
Please recognize that “gun control” as they call for it is not a solution. In fact, it can produce this very vulnerability. The shooter worked for a security company which was is a merger product, which invariably means the buyers had to make up funding which means, more business, less screening. Continuous review or psych-evals don’t happen, and the stage is set. I know of cases where an armed interloper got stopped by a trained, unexpected respondent, a legally -armed, competently trained citizen. In some locales, legal carry is permitted in bars and clubs, so long as the carrier doesn’t drink alcohol. There are enough of us veterans and the like, with clear heads and wise awareness, that could counter such a threat. The issue here was somebody unstable, about whom nobody who knew, did anything. That is no reason to think disarming people would prevent such a thing. He worked for people who armed him, and they didn’t pay attention. Another point is coping skills. He was living a double life and got angry at those who weren’t.
I suppose the point is, laws to punish all of us won’t solve the basic problem that, when it comes to individuals, we won’t get involved until it’s too late. Co-workers, wife, and others all saw where his attitude was going, but they worried for themselves and his reaction.
I’m glad this story had a hero, like Flight 93 did, and the hero was gay. It contrasts so starkly with the killer, worried about impressions, jealous, vain, and above all, a coward. There’s a message in there for everyone.
Sorry to ramble, but to summarize, disarmament only deprives me of defense against madmen, but if we focus on courage, character, and humanity, and our neighbor, we can have more effect in preventing such madness.
Hillary Clinton had Omar Mateens father sitting in front row at her rallies. She wanted a few hundred thousand Muslims migrating in our country on top of that.. no thank you! Donald Trump is the real ally of the LGBT community and an ally to all Americans. We don’t invite immigrants with radical Islamic beliefs into a country that thinks progressively. Muslims do not accept western culture and absolutely cannot stand or tolerate homosexuals. Think about that next time you try to make a sly remark against trump. Love does NOT trump hate. Because you can’t love someone out of hating you.. wake up liberals!