In the midst of horror and tragedy, heroes emerge from the crowd.
That was the case early Sunday morning when the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history took place in Orlando, leaving 49 dead and 53 wounded.
Out of this senseless act of violence, heroes rose to the call.
Heroes who put themselves in harm’s way to save others.
Heroes who were enjoying their night before chaos erupted.
Here are their stories.
Joshua McGill was with his roommates at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, when they heard gunshots around 2 a.m. and ran out of the club’s back patio exit.
McGill said today on “Good Morning America” that he hopped a fence to escape the gunfire that ultimately killed 49 people inside the club. He then hid behind a car in a parking lot for safety.
While hiding, McGill saw a victim “limping around” and “mumbling.” He would later learn that the victim was Rodney Sumter, a 27-year-old bartender at Pulse.
“I went and grabbed him, brought him behind the car where I was,” McGill said on “GMA.”
“That’s when I noticed he had been shot once in each arm,” he said. “I took my shirt off, tied it around his first initial gunshot wound on his left arm. I took his shirt off, tied it around his other arm where the other gunshot wound was.”
McGill said he lead Sumter through the parking lot and discovered a third gunshot wound in Sumter’s upper back.
“I just applied as much pressure as I could as we were walking him to the nearest officer that was on standby,” McGill said.
With no ambulances on the scene, McGill said police officers instructed him to lay down in the patrol car with Sumter on top of him while squeezing Sumter’s back in order to constrict the blood.
“I can hear the police officers in the front seat saying, ‘Keep him conscious, talk to him,’” McGill recalled. “That’s when I learned his name.”
McGill said a prayer with Sumter and told him, ‘Stick with me. You’re going to be fine. I promise you, everything is going to be okay.’”
Recounting the tale on Facebook, McGill wrote:
“There was a very tragic thing that happened tonight. Thoughts and prayers for everyone at Pulse or that know anyone that was at Pulse.
It was very crazy and a traumatic experience.
I’m very thankful I got away safe and a lot of other people I know and care about did as well.
I hid under a car and found one of the victims that was shot. I tied my shirt and his shirt over his wounds to stop the bleeding and got him secretly to the nearest officer who then transported us to the ER.
Words cannot and will not describe the feeling of that.
Being covered in blood.. Trying to save a guy’s life that I don’t even know regardless that I’m fine.. just traumatized.
The things I had to say to the guy and make promises I didn’t know I would be able to keep or not to keep him conscious while holding him as tight as I could and blood everywhere on me.
Saying a prayer for him and letting him know I will be here waiting for him. It sucks because all I got was his name and I can’t even see if he’s okay because I’m not related.
If anyone knows of a guy named Rodney that was shot and injured tonight.. Please let me know he is okay. I felt God put me at the club and made me stay behind to help a complete stranger.
For whatever reason that may be.. I don’t know, but I do know it was hopefully to save his life. Maybe God be with us all in this time of need.”
Sumter, a father of two, is now awaiting surgery at an Orlando-area hospital. McGill said he hopes to be reunited with him today and is in touch with Sumter’s family.
Pulse had been hosting a Latin-themed night when gunman Omar Mateen, armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, walked into the nightclub and sprayed the venue with bullets. Forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 were injured.
Janiel Gonzalez was inside the club when the shots were fired.
“I just remember ducking to the floor and telling myself, ‘This is it. This is how I die. This is the end of me.’ I remember praying on the floor and asking God, ‘Help me. Help me get through this right now,'” Gonzalez said today on “GMA.” “It was insane. Literally like a scene straight out of a movie.”
Gonzalez said he hid behind a bar until he was able to make an escape. He survived the attack unharmed.
“I found the courage within myself to just get up and be like, ‘This is not how you’re going to die. You’re going to live. You’re going to be able to survive this. We need to come up with a plan,” he said. “I remember running and not even looking back, just running, running, running, running to the first [lit] building that I saw, which was a 7-Eleven.”
Ray Rivera was manning the DJ booth in the back patio of Pulse when he heard the gunshots, which he said he initially thought were firecrackers.
“I thought it was somebody playing a joke,” Rivera said today on “GMA.” “I didn’t realize what it was until I kind of looked inside and saw everybody running out.”
Rivera said he hid behind the DJ booth until he heard a brief, seconds-long pause in the gunshots and ran outside.
“Everyone was having a good time and then just chaos broke loose at two o’clock,” he said. “It went from a great vibe to one of the worst tragedies right now.”
It is said that sometimes, the people behind tragedies like this believe that somehow they will become famous for what they have done. We will not mention his name, ever. But rather, we’ll be shining a spotlight on the heroes of this tragedy.
Thank you, Joshua, for being one of these heroes.
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