Soto said the national memorial designation would allow the Pulse site to become part of the national park system while still allowing for the nonprofit to maintain control over it. The permanent memorial and museum are scheduled to open in 2022. Six design firms have been selected as finalists and the winner will be chosen in the fall. About $14 million has been raised for the $50 million project. Pulse owner Barbara Poma has established a nonprofit to open a memorial and museum at the site. However, the mass shooting in 2017 along the Las Vegas Strip became the deadliest when 58 people were killed. Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, was killed in a shootout with police after a three-hour standoff inside Pulse.Īt the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. It will be three years on Wednesday that gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at the Orlando gay nightclub on Latin night. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, both Democrats, said at a ceremony outside the former nightclub that the designation will preserve and protect Pulse for future generations and give it the federal recognition it deserves. Only days before the third anniversary of the worst attack on gay people in the U.S., members of central Florida’s congressional delegation said Monday they were introducing legislation that would designate as a national memorial the gay nightclub where 49 people were massacred by a supporter of the Islamic State. “There are days I wake up and cry and shake it off and say, you know what, you’re alive - you’re not dead like your best friend. Melendez said that after months of therapy and dealing with survivor’s guilt, he eventually “came to terms with the fact that was a person who is not right in the head.” Shooter Omar Mateen, a closeted gay man who pledged loyalty to ISIS, according to authorities, was killed in a shootout with police. President Biden – an architect of the expired 1994 assault weapons ban - has recently vowed to push Congress to take meaningful action on the issue. If there was more restriction on owning a gun this would have never happened.” Melendez is urging politicians to take more action to prevent mass shootings amid the five-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting. There has to be a better way, it should be more controlled. “You should have to pass a background test and take a psychological test before you can own a gun. Gun control needs to be more strict,” he pleaded. “ should make it so that not just anybody can own a gun. On the anniversary of the Pride Week slaughter, Melendez issued an urgent call for lawmakers to take more action to prevent mass shootings. The atrocities of five years ago sparked gun control pushes in Washington and in statehouses across the country, but ultimately the tragedy led to few reforms. I forget things and my short term memory is completely lost. “I had to learn how to write and read again,” he said. Melendez said he lost four pints of blood and suffered multiple strokes after a bullet pierced his skull and destroyed part of his brain. Leonel Melendez said he had to relearn how to read and write after he was shot in the head. “I’ve been through 10 surgeries… I had to go through physical therapy so bad I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” he recalled. The Louisiana native was left in a coma, and given grim odds of survival during his six week hospitalization following the shooting.Īt one point, Melendez said a doctor told him “we can not explain why you are still alive,” and called him a “walking miracle.” “I was pretty much a miracle - but my recovery has been long and hard.” “I can’t hear on my left side and I use a hearing aid… I lost some of my vision,” he told The Post on Friday. Leonel Melendez, 43, still carries the mental and physical scars of being shot in the head and losing his best friend during the Jrampage. What timing! Biden draws focus from Harris’ border visit with Pulse memorial eventĪ survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting says he is still haunted by the massacre - five years after a hate-filled gunman opened fire at the Florida LGBT venue, killing 49 people. Vandal in wheelchair sets fire to Pulse nightclub memorial Suspected Pulse nightclub memorial vandal arrested The deadliest mass shootings in US history
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