Survivors and family members of the 49 victims killed in the Pulse nightclub massacre nine years ago got their first chance Wednesday to walk through the long-shuttered, LGBTQ+-friendly Florida venue before it is razed and replaced with a permanent memorial to what was once the worst US mass shooting in modern times. In small groups over four days, survivors and family members of those killed can spend half an hour inside the space where Omar Mateen opened fire during a Latin night celebration on June 12, 2016, leaving 49 dead and 53 wounded, per the AP. Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, was killed after a three-hour standoff with police.
At the time, it was the worst mass shooting in modern US history. The Pulse shooting's death toll was surpassed the following year when 58 people were killed and more than 850 were injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival in Las Vegas. The city of Orlando purchased the Pulse property in 2023 for $2 million and plans to build a $12 million permanent memorial that will open in 2027. Those efforts follow a multiyear, botched attempt to establish a memorial by a private foundation run by the club's former owner, which disbanded in 2023. The existing structure will be razed later this year.
Christine Leinonen, whose son, Christopher "Drew" Leinonen, was killed in the mass shooting, was among the first to go inside the club on Wednesday. Leinonen, who has been a fierce critic of the police response, the investigation into the mass shooting, and the nightclub's owner, said she wanted to see the space where her son died. "It's not closure. It's pragmatic for me because I needed to see the space. I needed to see how big it was," Leinonen said afterward. "I would have regretted it if I didn't go through it."
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Around 250 survivors and family members of those killed responded to the city's invitation to walk through the cleaned nightclub this week, coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the shooting. The people invited to visit were given the chance to ask FBI agents who investigated the massacre about what happened. They weren't allowed to take photos or video inside. On Wednesday, a security screen shielded the entrance to the club as visitors got off a small bus and walked into a white tent at the venue's entrance. Some of those who had planned to come backed out at the last minute. (More Pulse Orlando shooting stories.)
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