A group of Pulse nightclub survivors and victims’ families are suing Orlando police officers and the city because officials didn’t do enough to stop the gunman, according to ABC News.
It’s been two years since Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured dozens at Pulse Nightclub. Now, more than 35 survivors filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that the club’s patrons’ civil rights were violated that day when officers didn’t immediately go into the building and confront the gunman, as reported by USA Today.
JUNE 12, 2016
Orlando, Florida, USA
2 years have passed and in my heart your faces and spirits are as alive to me as they were before you were taken.
Today, we say your names. We miss you. We’ll never forget. #pulse#orlando#NeverAgainpic.twitter.com/zlYfXGLcNn
— Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) June 12, 2018
The shooting was then the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
“What if the Orlando Police officers who responded to the shooting were aggressive with a plan to rescue victims and hostages and kill the shooter?” Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo said in a news conference, the Orlando Sentinel reports. “Would my brother still be alive?”
According to WESH 2 News, the lawsuit blames 31 officers for not immediately confronting the gunman and for not detaining uninjured survivors for questions. It also accuses the city of inadequately training the responders.
Two years ago, a man fired 45 rounds a minute into the crowded club while I washed my hands in the sink. 13 of those rounds killed my best friends.
Today, the pain is the same. Someone please fix this.
I miss you. 💔 #Pulsepic.twitter.com/zwHeKtNYf6
— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) June 12, 2018
“These defendants chose to allow the patrons of the club to be massacred while these defendants ensured only that they themselves were safe,” the federal lawsuit states, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “These defendants knew that there were innocent people being massacred and that they themselves were the only ones who could stop it, and that it was their job to do so, yet they still, in a manner [that] shocks the conscience, chose to disregard the safety of the patrons while instead ensuring only that they themselves were safe.”
The biggest controversy surrounding the June 12, 2016 shooting was whether or not police officers waited too long before setting off explosive and rescuing patrons being held hostage.According to USA Today, Mateen talked on and off with police negotiators for three hours as injured club goers hid in bathroom stalls. One women bled to death, during this time.
On this night, I’m tired. I’m so tired of telling stories of such senseless violence, evil and hate. #Pulse
— Bailey Myers (@BaileyMyers_) June 12, 2018
The survivors are asking for unspecified amount of monetary damages, and if the case is decided in their favor, the city will be charged the attorneys legal fees.
