Orlando vigil remembers 49 victims of Pulse shooting six months on
A number of people attended a vigil to remember the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting, six months on from the atrocity.
Dozens of friends and family members of the 49 people shot and killed in the Pulse shooting, as well as survivors of the mass shooting, attended the site of the incident on Monday.
The date marked six months since 49 were killed and 53 more injured when a gunman opened fire in the nightclub.
Flowers and candles were set out as well as multi-coloured stars with the names of those killed.
Many in the crowd wore black, or shirts with the faces of those killed.
Beginning at 2:02 on Monday, which marked the exact time when the shooting began, the name of each victim was read out.
Then on Monday evening, an open vigil was planned to take place which was open to the public.
Gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 in the terrorist hate crime attack, which saw Mateen open fire inside the Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which was perpetrated by US citizen Omar Mateen. The majority of the victims were Latino.
President Obama mourned the victims of the homophobic hate crime attack and called for greater restrictions on arms sales.
Millions of people around the world have showed solidarity with the victims of the shooting and the community in Orlando.
Omar Mateen’s first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said that Mateen was “gay” and carried out the attack to “impress his father.”
The city of Orlando announced plans to purchase the Pulse nightclub and turn it into a permanent memorial to the victims of the mass shooting earlier this year, but the plans have since fallen through after the club’s owner backed out.
