Gunman Kept Shooting, Paramedic Kept Helping Others After Being Shot

Las Vegas shooting: San Bernardino paramedic helps save lives after being wounded

ABC Eyewitness News
Elex Michaelson
October 8, 2017 

While helping a gunshot victim, Jimmy himself was shot in the leg. He didn't tell Matt about the gunshot wound, at first. He simply told him to run.

LAS VEGAS (KABC) --

Jimmy Grovom is a trained paramedic. But he never thought he'd need to work during his Las Vegas vacation.

The Mission Viejo native came to the Route 91 Harvest festival with his girlfriend, Briana, his brother, Matt, and a group of their friends.

They were enjoying the music when shots rang out. Jimmy knew it was time to get to work.

"It's just how I'm wired, I guess," he said. "I like to help people when I see them in need."

Amid the gunfire, Matt Grovom watched as a woman standing next to him was hit.

"When I first heard the shots, the first person I yelled for is my brother," he said. "That just says something about him right there."

Jimmy began to administer aid to that woman and then moved on to help someone else. Then there was another round of gunfire.
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Some Reporters Doing More Harm Than Good

(My two cents is that this article is very true, but also applies to man on social media.)

Some media covering Las Vegas shooting accused of doing more harm

News 1130

Marcella Bernardo

Associated Press

October 8, 2017

"Miller, who treats sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, says the last thing you should say to someone who’s been through a trauma is "'You’re lucky to be alive.'"

Melissa Gerber, left, Nancy Hardy, center, and Sandra Serralde, all of Las Vegas, embrace as they look on crosses in honor of those killed in the mass shooting Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, in Las Vegas. A gunman opened fire on an outdoor music concert on Sunday killing dozens and injuring hundreds.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A local psychologist is worried about the impact on survivors of the Las Vegas massacre, saying some TV reporters are deliberately inciting an emotional response with their interview questions.

Doctor Lawrence Miller says it’s not a good idea for reporters to act as amateur psychologists for survivors or first responders who might be traumatized.

“So that’s really risky. If you go up to someone in the crowd in Las Vegas and you say, ‘Oh, you know, you’re lucky to be alive,’ the person may be just kind of still trying to formulate, like, what all this means.  Well, what the person hears is, ‘I could have been killed’ and that is the kind of thought process that can begin the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

He adds certain questions are deliberately asked with the goal of prompting tears, but that’s dangerous when dealing with someone who’s mentally fragile.

“When someone’s been through trauma like that, the worst thing you can do is start saying how they should be feeling and ‘You must be the luckiest guy alive, you know, you’re lucky to be alive. 
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Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor, Corrections Officer Honored After Las Vegas Shooting

Veteran Corrections Officer Killed In Vegas Massacre Remembered As A Hero

CBS Los Angeles

October 7, 2017

BURBANK (CBSLA) — A veteran corrections officer killed in the Las Vegas massacre was welcomed home in true hero fashion Saturday.

Family and colleagues of Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor gathered at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, where his body was flown Saturday morning.

On the tarmac, members of the color guard draped a flag over his casket; corrections officers then carefully loaded it into a van as part of a procession in his honor. 

Taylor and his girlfriend, Denise Cohen, of Carpinteria, were among the 59 people shot and killed at the country music festival in Las Vegas.

read more here 

Jason Aldean Tribute to Las Vegas Victims and Survivors

Jason Aldean Pays Tribute to Las Vegas Victims, Sings Tom Petty Song on ‘SNL’
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
October 8, 2017

Jason Aldean, the musician who was on stage when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of Las Vegas concert-goers this week, opened "Saturday Night Live" with a tribute to those affected by the massacre and a musical nod to recently-deceased rock legend Tom Petty.

The show skipped the traditional joke-filled cold open and began with Aldean on stage.

"This week we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night, and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal.” Jason Aldean
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"You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground"

Saturday Night Live
Published on Oct 7, 2017

Jason Aldean pays tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting with a performance of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down."

Man Risked Life to Save Veteran and Wife in Las Vegas

Veteran talks to man who shielded him, dying wife, after Vegas shooting
KWTX 10 News
Julie Hays
October 5, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) An Army veteran whose wife of 32 years was killed in the Las Vegas shooting rampage heads home Friday, but not before he talked to the stranger who shielded him and his dying wife as shots rang out.

“It was a selfless act of kindness,” Tony Burditus said Thursday.

His wife Denise was among the 58 who died when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Burditus will fly back to West Virginia Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office released his wife’s body.

But before he left Las Vegas he had an emotional phone conversation with the stranger who threw himself on top of the couple as bullets flew.

Sam Porter, a CPA from California, was attending the three-day music festival outside the Mandalay Bay hotel with 15 friends, mostly Los Angeles firefighters, when bullets began to rain down around them.

As news organizations began to identify the shooting victims and showed photographs, Porter immediately recognized Denise.
read more here

Army of Heroes Showed Up in Las Vegas

Here are a few more stories about veterans still risking their lives for the sake of others!

Matthew Cobos, US Army

Cobos used his belt as a tourniquet to stop bleeding and even used his fingers to try to plug wounds. Cobos told family and friends that he could see the shots hitting the ground and ricocheting around him.

The young soldier is stationed with the Army in Hawaii where he is a cavalry scout. He was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with his sister and her boyfriend during the shooting, and is for the time being back with his family in California.

Dr. James Sebesta, Ret. Army

is a surgeon who retired last year from service at Madigan Army Medical Center after an Army career that included four deployments to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sunday, he encountered some of the worst carnage of his career during what he called a “prolonged date night” as he attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. After surviving the onslaught of bullets unleashed in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, he sent his wife away with friends to a safe place while he stayed behind to help the wounded.

Aaron Stalker, Army veteran

While thousands of people scrambled from the parking lot where the Route 91 Harvest music festival was held as bullets rained down from overhead, Stalker ran straight into the crowd. He searched frantically for his girlfriend and her mother. Unable to find them in the chaos, "I just started helping anyone and everyone I could," Stalker said. 

He went to the first wounded person he could find and ripped up a piece of clothing to use as a tourniquet. He made splints, patched bullet holes, flipped over the plastic barriers that had been set up around the perimeter of the festival and turned them into stretchers. With two other men whose names he never learned, he carried the wounded to cars that would take them to the hospital.

Robert Ledbetter, Army veteran 

was a scout sniper for the U.S. Army Rangers during one tour of duty in Iraq. He was trained for war.

Those instincts kicked in on Sunday night at a different battlefield: about 40 yards from the stage where Jason Aldean was performing.

Ledbetter, 42, now a loan officer in Las Vegas, said at first it sounded like a firecracker or a firework. “We all looked around,” he said, as he and his wife and family members made sense of the popping sound.

Another burst of rounds went off, and someone about four rows ahead at the concert dropped to the ground. He saw Aldean escorted from the stage.

Las Vegas Survivors and Responders Struggle to Heal

Las Vegas survivors have been through hell. And it's not over.
USA TODAY
Anne Godlasky
Published Oct. 5, 2017

"Most people who've gone through something this horrifying will have symptoms that look like PTSD initially. It's only when they continue to linger that a diagnosis would be given," Gillihan said. Though rates of PTSD vary depending on the trauma, Gillihan said he would expect a "high percentage" to experience it in this case.

Now is about the time you've got Las Vegas fatigue. For the sake of your sanity, you turn your attention to other things, lighter things.

Now is about the time survivors of that attack are beginning to feel the shock subside and an onslaught of emotions — anguish, grief, guilt — take over.

"There's national recognition and solidarity around these big events, (but) that sense of attention and care and compassion seems to fade with the next news cycle," said Seth Gillihan, a psychologist and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder researcher. "The country pretty quickly returns to its baseline."

But survivors can't return to their baseline. Those who escaped the bullets can go home, and the injured will leave the hospital, but they can't go back to the lives they had.

"The world they knew before it happened is profoundly changed," Gillihan said. "They're probably going to have a different way of seeing the world, they may have a different way of seeing themselves, they may be critical of themselves for how they reacted during the event."

Las Vegas survivors have been thrust onto a new trajectory, one that will feel worse before it gets better. They are joining an unfortunate fellowship of those who've endured trauma — but one that can at least provide guidance down this too well-trodden path.
read more here

I hope you read the rest of the article because it is important to understand that the rest of the country moved on.

Everyone shot, obviously needs help. Not so obvious are the other concert goers. Even less obvious are the First Responders trying to save everyone else.

After Pulse, Police Officers said that the worst part was after the shooting stopped. They had to walk around in puddles of blood, but even that wasn't the worst for them. It was the constant ring of cell phones as they prayed the batteries would die. They knew on the other end of the call, was someone looking for someone who was not going home to them.

Truck Thief You Got To Love!

This Iraq veteran stole a truck and rescued dozens as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas

Sacramento Bee

Mandy Matney
October 3, 2017

An Iraq veteran is being hailed as a hero for stealing a festival truck and rescuing dozens of shooting victims as gunfire rained down in Las Vegas Sunday night.

Taylor Winston, 29, of San Diego, first thought the gunshots were fireworks while drinking and two-stepping at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, CBS News reports. But his combat skills kicked in when he heard the screams and the gunshots got closer during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
read the rest here

How to Help Mandalay Bay Survivors. Be There!

This morning I posted advice on Google+ about how to help someone after they have survived something like Mandalay Bay shooting. It is really simple advice.

"If you know survivors of the shooting in Las Vegas, be there to listen to them. Do not turn it into a contest or try to "fix them" with any words, other than letting them know you care. Hold their hand and hold your tongue. Be there as they bring what happened as survivors back into the safety of what "normal" life is supposed to be."

Aside from living through many times when my life was on the line as a civilian, (remember, I am not the veteran in the family) this works. My family did it naturally, not knowing they were beginning my healing as a survivor. I also studied it, trained to work with First Responders, because of how much I do believe it works. 

Having seen the worst that can happen after a survivor is suffering without help, I weep more because I know that suffering did not need to happen.

It isn't just me saying this. It is repeated over and over again from the type of experts I learned from. You know, the ones with degrees up the you know what and a proven history of being right.


This is from one of those types of articles that just came out from an interview with Michele Hart.

A place to feel safe
"The first step is safety. Give someone a safe place to be and just be," she said. "Right now the talking isn't the important part."

Hart said the priority should be giving people a place where they can cry and express emotions and begin to process what has happened in a way that is safe and comfortable.  

The rush for 'psychological first aid' in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting
CNBC
Jessica Mathews
October 3, 2017

The morning after Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center.
What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
Clinical social worker Michele Hart, who specializes in stressor-related disorders, says one of the best measures to treat PTSD is providing a place where those affected can cry and express emotions.

Denise Truscello | Getty Images
People embrace during a vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival shootings on October 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.

The morning after 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resorts promptly opened a crisis center, asking certified trauma counselors to volunteer and go to "Circus Circus – Ballroom D," according to a tweet. The makeshift crisis center was open to all victims, family members and anyone else directly impacted by the events, including Mandalay Bay guests and employees.

"Psychological first aid," or early mental health response, after the aftermath of horror and heartbreak is relatively new. In the first two weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on December 14, 2012, which left 29 people dead, more than 800 people visited the main crisis counseling center in Newtown, Connecticut. Within 24 hours after the June 12, 2016, nightclub shooting in Orlando, which claimed 49 lives, local counselors began circulating a spreadsheet, asking practitioners to sign up for shifts to offer therapy and support to victims, their families and community members. In a few days 650 practitioners signed up.

The Las Vegas shooting on Sunday night turned out to be the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, leaving 59 dead and 527 injured. For nearly 15 minutes shots rained down on the attendees, who had nowhere to escape. What was to be an evening of country music and celebration turned into a night of bloody terror, leaving those affected — whether directly or vicariously — at risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here


But remember, it isn't just about the survivors. It is the First Responders, the families, the friends and the people who just left, will also be changed. Will you be there to help them change again for the better?

The best that comes out of many because of the "one"

One man decided to kill as many strangers as possible. 

Many more decided to risk their lives to save as many strangers as possible.

Thousands fled the hail of gunfire in Las Vegas. These people stayed to try to save lives.

Blyleven, who is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven, said he has no formal medical training but that he felt obligated to do whatever he could to save lives.

“I just felt like I had to,” said Blyleven, who estimated that he may have helped about 30 or 40 people get away from the gunfire. “I would hope that if me, or my family, was in a situation like that, that someone would come in and get me.”

During the gunfire, Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he tried to shield his children.

“It was crazy — I laid on top of the kids. They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life,” McGarry told Reuters. He said he had shoe prints on the back of his shirt from people who ran over him to get away.

A parade of police officers, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene of the shooting, where good Samaritans were seen in photos kneeling down, tending to victims.

One man told Fox News that he hid behind a table and, when it was all over, helped load several bodies into a truck.

Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead, 515 hurt in Mandalay Bay shooting

Jose Baggett, 31, of Las Vegas, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino -- directly north of the festival -- when people began to run, almost like in a stampede. He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles. 

"There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars," Baggett said.

That is the place where we find hope. There are still far more good people in this country than bad. Sure we may think that members of law enforcement and first responders are just doing their jobs, but they decided to do those jobs for the sake of everyone else.

Are there some who do not deserve to wear the badge? Yes, but they are few among many. So why is it that we forget that?

Are there some bad people in this country? Yes, but why do we forget that there are far more good ones?

People carry an injured person at the music festival grounds after gunfire was heard.

This man was talking about his friend who had been shot. He also talked about how many people went to help strangers. 



Southern California resident Chris Roybal, 28, died after he was shot in the chest, ABC Chicago station WLS reported. Roybal was a Navy war veteran who served in Afghanistan.



Time and time again we have witnessed the worst that can be done, but we have also witnessed the best that comes out of many because of the one.

First Responders to Pulse Searching For Healing

Pulse survivors share memories, messages
USA TODAY , KHOU
Rick Jervis
June 09, 2017

“I don’t care how rich or important you are, when you have a problem, you’re going to dial those three little numbers. But when we need the help, who do we call?” Omar Delgado

More than anything else, Omar Delgado remembers the phones. Dozens of them, he said, ringing incessantly and spinning in pools of their owners’ blood, the only sound in an otherwise quiet nightclub.

Delgado, 45, an Eatonville Police officer, was one of the first responders to the June 12, 2016, Pulse nightclub shooting. As he entered the club through a patio door that night, he saw bleeding and bullet-torn bodies strewn across the dance floor, many of them slumped on top of one another, their phones ringing next to them.

“I knew it was a loved one trying to reach that person and they were never ever going to pick up that phone again,” Delgado said in an interview with USA TODAY. “It was horrific.”

A year ago Monday, gunman Omar Mateen opened fire inside Pulse, a popular LGBT club in Orlando, with a semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock pistol, killing 49 patrons and injuring 53 others in one of the deadliest shooting sprees in U.S. history. Mateen was shot and killed by police after a three-hour standoff.
read more here

Joshua Berry Survived Afghanistan, Fort Hood Massacre, but Not Being Home

Father raises awareness of veteran suicide after death of his son
FOX 19 News
Tuesday, May 30th

FORT THOMAS, KY (FOX19)
Hundreds of American flags have been placed across the Tri-State in the past few months.

On Memorial Day, more than 600 flags waved at Tower Park.

But there's an important message behind the patriotic displays.

"Families, the empty chairs at tables," said Howard Berry. "The grieving process and the questions, the unanswered questions."

Howard Berry started the Flags for Forgotten Soldiers campaign after the death of his son, US Army Staff Sergeant Joshua Berry.

Joshua had just returned to the US from a tour in Afghanistan in 2009 when shots were fired at him during the attack at Fort Hood, Texas. He was then diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

"He was treated here at this Cincinnati VA and committed suicide in February 2013," said Howard.

Since then, Howard has been on a mission, erecting groups of flags wherever they will let him.

660 star spangled banners, to be exact.
read more here
Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV

Fort Hood: Ret. General Robert Cone Passed Away at 59

Former TRADOC, Fort Hood commander Gen. Robert Cone dies
Army Times
By: Kevin Lilley and Michelle Tan
September 20, 2016

Left to right, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry pray at a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, for the victims of the Fort Hood shootings on Nov. 10, 2009.
Photo Credit: Jay Janner/Pool via AP

Retired Gen. Robert Cone, who led Army Training and Doctrine Command and was the top general for III Corps during the deadly 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people, has died at age 59.

“He was a great friend, a brave warrior and a uniquely gifted Army leader. His loss leaves a big hole in our ranks and in our lives,” said retired Gen. Carter Ham, president of the Association of the U.S. Army, in a statement.
read more here

Police Officers Know Their Jobs Can Kill Them

Stepping Up For Those Who Show Up
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 12, 2016

When we go to work, we worry about traffic and if we are going to do something to get fired.  When police officers go to work, they worry about traffic too. They also have to worry about getting killed on their jobs.  We never manage to think of that very much. It comes with their jobs.

They usually have pretty "normal" days considering what their jobs demand. 

They may have to respond to an accident, robbery, domestic violence calls and stopping idiot drivers.  Then they may have the rare days like in Dallas when they were protecting protestors. Five were killed and nine were wounded but all were changed.

Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens’ children had already gone to bed Thursday night when the Dallas police officer was wheeled into the emergency room at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

On Friday morning, the kids woke up to the news that their father was dead.

Cedar Hill Public Information Officer Lieutenant Colin Chenault places his hand on the shoulder of police chaplain Victor Jackson during a prayer service at the Cedar Hill Government Center in Cedar Hill, Texas Friday." Dallas Morning News

They were there to protect the protestors. Parents brought their kids because they thought it would be safe for them to march against what a few police officers do because other officers were there to make sure no one got out of control.

A mother tries to calm her daughter as Dallas Police respond to shots being fired at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Dallas. (Maria R. Olivas/Special Contributor)

After all that is what police officers do but we do not notice that until we need them.

To blame all police officers instead of what is happening all over the country ends up heating up anger all the way around. We need to stop putting people into groups we can blame instead of the person who decided to do it.


In Orlando, hate caused a man to open fire at the Pulse nightclub. Over a hundred people were shot and forty nine were murdered.  They thought their biggest worry would be how to get home if they had too much fun drank too much.

"For those who were gay, for those who were tortured and stigmatized throughout their lives, I am just praying that now they're in heaven and they're together and that they'll know they didn't die in vain. Hopefully, they will see all the people coming together to honor them and show them love." Kristine Rosendahl

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” Maya Angelou

It was police officers showing up to prevent more from being gunned down. 

When they were on their way to the massacre, they did not know what they were going to have to do or if they would go home at the end of their shift.

Even most of the protestors appreciate the fact police officers are there because they do not blame all of them. Dallas police officers were seen in pictures supporting the protestors as well as being there to protect them. People are stepping up for those who show up to protect all of us.

“We actually felt like they were protecting us.” one demonstrator wrote.

All of us have jobs to do. All of us do the best we can everyday no matter what we have to do. So do police officers. Most of the folks in Dallas understand that. Most of the folks all across the country understand that and appreciate their willingness to keep doing their jobs.

When Will Fort Hood Families Receive Justice?

Lawyer for 2009 Fort Hood shooting victims seeks resumption of long-delayed civil case
Army Times
Kevin Lilley
June 18, 2016

Nearly seven years after an Army major’s shooting rampage left 13 dead and dozens wounded at Fort Hood, Texas, lawyers for about 130 of the victims and family members have asked a federal judge to lift a stay in their civil case against the service and other defendants.

While many of those killed or injured received Purple Heart Medals (and the financial benefits that accompany those awards) in 2015, Reed Rubinstein, one of the lawyers on the case, said the Army and other defendants – including the FBI – have yet to pay in full the debt owed to the victims.

“Nothing, nothing is going to happen on this case, if the government has its way, until well into 2017,” said Rubinstein, who first filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in November 2012. “Long after the people involved are gone, and presumably … long after everybody will have forgotten about Fort Hood.”

The complaint cites multiple reports on the killings, including a Senate report that outlines Hasan’s statements in support of extremism in the years before the shooting. Lawyers for the victims also point to a 2013 letter from three members of Congress to then-Army Secretary John McHugh, saying the hands-off approach to Hasan despite his statements that seemed to link him to extreme Muslim ideology, and the promotions he received after making them, amounted to “preferential treatment” given because of his Muslim faith.

That treatment, Rubinstein said, ultimately resulted in the Army failing to stop Hasan’s actions.

“It seems like it’s happening over and over again,” Rubinstein said, alluding to the more recent shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando. “These shooters are being identified. It’s not like they’re missed or weren’t discovered. They’re discovered, and somebody makes the determination to let it drop.”

read more here

ORMC Doctor Wore Army Boots Before Sneakers As A Medic

The doctor behind the bloody shoes on Facebook
Orlando Sentinel
Naseem S. Miller Contact Reporter
June 16, 2016

Corsa joined the Army after he finished high school in North Carolina. He spent six years in the Army, where he was a medic. He came back home and got his bachelor's degree in two years and then went to medical school.

A week before the bloody massacre at Pulse nightclub, Dr. Joshua Corsa bought a new pair of shoes from the REI outdoor company.

They were Keens and he liked them because he could put them on quickly – one of those important little details for a senior resident who has to rush around a busy Level I trauma center like Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Little did he know that in a few days those sneakers would become a symbol of all that's good and evil in this world.

It started with a text from an attending physician at the trauma center: possible active shooter and up to three injured with gunshot wounds.

Throughout those years he worked full-time as a firefighter/paramedic.
read more here

Comfort Dogs Arrive With ‘Unconditional Love’ in Orlando

In a Shaken Orlando, Comfort Dogs Arrive With ‘Unconditional Love’ 
New York Times 
By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH 
JUNE 16, 2016

Melissa Soto with Susie, a comfort dog, on Tuesday near a memorial

site for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.

Credit John Taggart/European Pressphoto Agency

On the Monday following the Orlando massacre, 12 golden retrievers arrived in the Florida city.

They had come to offer comfort to some of the victims of the attack, the families of those killed and the emergency medical workers, as well as anyone else in the city in need of some canine affection after the deadliest shooting in American history.

The animals are part of the K-9 Comfort Dogs team, a program run by the Lutheran Church Charities, based in Northbrook, Ill. Founded in 2008, the team has comforted victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.

Tim Hetzner, the president of the charity, said that the dogs in Orlando were helping to provide a feeling of safety, allowing those in distress to relax their guard and express their vulnerability during a difficult time.

“We’ve had a lot of people here that start petting the dog, and they break out crying,” he said.

The dogs and their 20 handlers have visited hospitals and churches, and attended vigils and memorial services.

On Wednesday, they visited some of the hospitalized victims and met with the staff of Pulse, the gay nightclub where the shooting occurred.
read more here

Two Disgusting Camp Pendleton Marines Post Threat After Orlando Massacre

Facebook photo of Marine threatens gays?
Camp Pendleton investigating 2 Marines for social media post following Orlando massacre
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
June 16, 2016 


A social media post that seemingly references Sunday’s mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub has led to an investigation of two Camp Pendleton Marines.

The Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force announced Thursday that it is looking into a photo posted Wednesday in a Facebook group called Camp MENdleton Resale, which advertises itself as a private forum for male troops and veterans.

The photo, which has since been removed, shows a uniformed Marine corporal pointing a rifle toward the camera. A caption at the bottom says, “Coming to a gay bar near you!”

Based on other features shown on the post, it appears the photo also was sent through the instant messaging program Snapchat. The post has since been shared on several other Facebook pages.

This incident continues a week of questionable or disturbing responses to the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where 49 people — most of them gay or lesbian — were killed and more than 50 others were wounded. The death count makes it the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
read more here

OneOrlando Fund Reaches $7 Million

$7 million donated to OneOrlando Fund, mayor says
WFTV ABC News
Updated: Jun 17, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Friday that the OneOrlando Fund had received more than $7 million in donations.

“We're showing the world that we are Orlando United. I'm so proud of the people standing behind me,” said Dyer.

The fund was set up to help people directly affected by the Pulse nightclub shooting, he said.

The outpouring of support from our City partners has already begun:

• Walt Disney Company $1,000,000

• In addition, eligible donations from Disney employees will be matched dollar for dollar by Disney. Employee Matching Gifts: A Program of The Walt Disney Company Foundation

• Darden Restaurants $500,000

• The Orlando Magic $100,000

• JetBlue $100,000

• Mears $50,000

• Comcast NBCUniversal $1,000,000

• Tishman Hotel Corporation $25,000

To contribute to the OneOrlando Fund, please visit OneOrlando.org.

read more here

President Obama Feels Pulse of Orlando

I have never been more proud of this city. To see the way people have stepped up to help strangers for no other reason than love, to see businesses set aside profit because of heartache, folks show up standing in line to donate blood and hold a candle to light the darkness, that shows the pulse of this city is beating strong enough to prove that hate will not defeat love.

President Obama meeting with victims’ families, survivors in Orlando
WESH 2 News
UPDATED 3:45 PM EDT Jun 16, 2016

After leaving the Amway Center, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden stopped at the memorial resurrected outside the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center.

Orlando Mayor Buddy dyer shows President Obama a black "Orlando Pride" t shirt with a rainbow heart. AP IMAGE

3:30 p.m.

President Obama’s motorcade left the Amway Center shortly after 3:30 p.m. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spent a little over two hours meeting with survivors and family members of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

2:30 p.m.
Hundreds of people have gathered outside the Amway Center as President Barack Obama meets with survivors and family members of the victims inside.

1:30 p.m.
President Obama's motorcade arrived at the Amway Center just before 1:30 p.m. He will be meeting with the families of victims and survivors.

Survivors of the mass shooting were brought to the Amway Center Thursday morning.

After meeting with the families and survivors. President Obama and Vice President Biden will be meeting with local law enforcement officials to thank them for their work in response to Sunday's mass shooting.
read more here