In the early predawn hours of this past Sunday morning, 29 year old Omar Mateen, a Muslim with possible ties to the Islamic State, entered The Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with a loaded handgun and an automatic rifle. He ended up opening fire on the crowd of more than 300 and, in the end, murdered 50 people and left 53 others seriously wounded. The ex-security guard, whose parents are from Afghanistan, went there with murder on his mind because, as Mateen’s own father had said; he was enraged a couple of weeks ago when he saw two men kissing on the street.
After a three hour stand off, the police stormed the club and shot Marteen dead. Witnesses have told of the carnage inside the club where there were murdered bodies everywhere piled on top of one another with blood sprayed and splashed on the floors and walls. People tried to escape out into the streets carrying many of the wounded with them.
Eddie Justice
Eddie Justice was a bright, athletic, 20 something living in a high rise condo in Orlando and working as an accountant at a local CPA firm. At 2:06 AM on Sunday morning, his mom, Mina Justice, received a text from her son which read: “Mommy, I love you. In club. They shooting.”
Naturally, Mina became frightened for her son and tried calling him but Eddie didn’t pick up. About a minute of so later, Eddie texted her; “Trap in bathroom. Pulse. Downtown. Call police.” Mina immediately called 911 right after reading the text. Mina had been sleeping but was now fully awake and shaking. She sat alone in the dark waiting for her son to call her or text again.
She sat in the dark for 44 minutes.
Mina Justice
The news was soon all over Orlando social media even before the police or the nation knew what was going on there. The Pulse Facebook page just told everyone to get out as quickly and safely as they could. It was then, at 2:39 AM, that Eddie sent his mom another text.
All it said was; “He’s coming. I’m gonna die.”
Around 2:50 AM, Eddie told his mother that he was still trapped in the bathroom and that the police needed to hurry. Then, Mina gets a text from Eddie: “Hurry. He’s in the bathroom with us. He’s a terror.”
Mina texted back to ask if he were hurt and that she had heard Marteen hated gay people. “Text me, please!”, Mina implored her son. “I love you.”
She never heard from Eddie again.
PHOTO CREDITS: The Associated Press