Heartbroken mother of missing Orlando man: “No one can tell me where my son is” (VIDEO)
The mother of a missing son has made an emotional plea after the Orlando shootings.
Christine Leinonen – whose son Christopher remains missing following the attack – sobbed as she described how she had been waiting for hours for information about her missing child.
Christine told reporters that she suddenly woke up at 3am on Sunday morning and checked Facebook.
She then saw a message from one of Christopher’s friends – Brandon – who had posted on the social site about the shooting.
Christine quickly sent texts and called her son, who did not answer, before she went straight to the hospital at 4am.
Brandon had hid in the toilets when he heard gunshots, and managed to escape through the front door.
He told Christine he had seen Christopher’s boyfriend – Juan Guerrero, who was later confirmed dead – being taken away with multiple gunshot wounds, but had not seen Christopher.
In the interview, she revealed the agony of waiting for information about her beloved son.
“I haven’t heard anything,” she said, as she struggled to hold back sobs. “I have been here since 4 o’clock in the morning. I have been waiting.
“I have been waiting by the emergency room, see if anybody gets called in.
“They said there’s a lot of dead bodies at the club and that’s a crime scene and they can’t identify anybody so it could be hours and hours before we find out.”
“The hospital said there are some bodies at the hospital that came in and they died and they’re not identifiable yet either,” she told ABC News.
She went to say how she was so proud of her son’s LGBT activism and his work bringing together straight and LGBT communities.
He set up the Gay Straight Alliance at his school, and won a humanitarian pride award for bringing gay and straight people together.
She then pleaded for something to be done about assault weapons being so easily accessible in the US.
“Please let’s all get along. We are on this earth for such a short time. Lets try and get rid of the hatred and violence, please.”
When asked when she last spoke to her son, the 58-year-old described their last conversation, one she ended with “I love you, Chris.”
With more than a hundred now confirmed dead or injured, the shooting has become the worst in American history.
Omar Mateen was named as the shooter in the incident which killed at least 50.
Watch the full, heartbreaking interview below:
