Family members wait for word from police after arriving down the street from a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Phelan... (Associated Press) 
 
 Family members wait for word from police after arriving down the street from a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) (Associated Press) 
 
 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jon Alamo was ready for a good time. 
 
 The 22-year-old clothing store sales clerk arrived at Pulse in Orlando at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, clad all in blue from his button-down shirt adorned with palm trees to his loafers. 
 
 "It was definitely going to be an awesome night," he said. 
 
 Like young people in clubs the world over, Alamo met up with some friends, and then some more friends. He danced in Pulse's main room, where people swayed to the beat of salsa music. Then Alamo drifted into the club's two other rooms, which grooved to more of a hip-hop vibe. He remembers hearing Rihanna's "Work," one of his favorite songs, and grinding to it on the dance floor. 
 
 It was supposed to be just a night of dancing and drinking, of looking good and gleefully partying into the early morning hours. It was Latin night at Pulse, one of Orlando's top gay venues, and two drag performers were scheduled to perform, one of them a big draw for appearing on a season of the TV show "RuPaul's Drag Race." 
 
 "I was in the zone," Alamo recalled. "I wasn't even paying attention — just dancing." 
 
 About three and a half hours after he arrived, the gunshots began and the first of at least 50 people began to die. 
 
 Residents of the Delaney Court condos next door to Pulse first heard the shooting about 2:03 a.m. Marlon Massey was watching the movie "Creed" when he heard "pop, pop, pop!" He checked his phone for the time: The shots went on until 2:05 a.m. 
 
 A uniformed Orlando police officer working at the club off-duty had heard gunshots himself and spotted Omar Mateen outside the club. He fired his gun at the 29-year-old security guard from Fort Pierce, Florida, and two other officers quickly joined in. Mateen was not armed lightly: Police said he had an AR-15 assault-type rifle, a handgun and an explosive device. 
 
 Undeterred, he re-entered the club. 
 
 Inside, those on the dance floor weren't sure if what they heard was just part of the DJ's set. 
 
 "Everyone was getting on the floor. ... I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun," patron Rose Feba explained to the Orlando Sentinel. 
 
 Mina Justice was sound asleep when she received the first text from her son, Eddie Justice, who was in the club. 
 
 "Mommy I love you," the first message said. It was 2:06 a.m. 
 
 "In club they shooting." 
 
 It was around this time that Alamo wandered back into the main room. 
 
 "He was holding a big weapon," Alamo said. "He had a white shirt and he was holding the weapon ... you ever seen how Marine guys hold big weapons, shooting from left to right? That's how he was shooting at people." 
 
 Alamo dashed toward the back of one of the smaller dance rooms, and said people then rushed to an area where two bouncers had knocked down a wooden fence to create an escape route. 
 
 "My first thought was, 'Oh my God, I'm going to die," Alamo said, his voice very quiet. "I was praying to God that I would live to see another day. I couldn't believe this was happening." 
 
 At 2:09 a.m., Pulse posted a chilling, hurried message on its Facebook page: "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running." 
 
 Brand White and his cousin were on the dance floor in the main room when White's cousin yelled to him, "B, it's a guy with a bomb!" Before he knew it, White was hit in the shoulder. 
 
 "All of a sudden it just started like a rolling thunder, loud and everything went black," White wrote in a Facebook message to an Associated Press reporter from his hospital room Sunday. "I think I was trampled." 
 
 He didn't recall leaving the club, but he remembered the state he was in: "Covered head to toe in blood." 
 
 "I remember screaming and mass chaos," he wrote. "There were hundreds of people there." 
 
 He made it to the hospital, where he got a blood transfusion. As Sunday wore on, his cousin remained missing. 
 
 Brett Rigas and his partner also were dancing in the main room when they heard the crack of gunfire. "About 70 bullets," Rigas described in a terse Facebook message. 
 
 He was shot in the arm and a man next to him was struck in the leg before police entered the room. 
 
 "I was behind the bar with four other people under the well. They called out to us and had us run out," he said. 
 
 Rigas saw dead bodies as he barreled out of the club. In the rush to escape, he became separated from his partner, who remained unaccounted for. 
 
 Three patrons, including a performer, ran to the nearby home of club regular David "Brock" Cornelius. Cornelius had gone to a different bar Saturday night and wasn't yet home, but he texted them his garage code and they hid in his house. 
 
 Police said a dozen or so other patrons took cover in a restroom. 
 
 At 2:39 a.m., Eddie Justice texted his mother from the bathroom, pleading for her to call police: 
 
 "Call them mommy 
 
 Now." 
 
 He's coming 
 
 I'm gonna die." 
 
 Justice asked her son if anyone was hurt and which bathroom he was in. 
 
 "Lots. Yes," he responded at 2:42 a.m. 
 
 The last text she received from Eddie was at 2:50 a.m. His name was later added to the city's list of those killed in the attack. 
 
 "All I heard was gunfire after gunfire," Brandon Wolf, who was in a restroom hiding, told the Sentinel. "Eventually, I thought you were supposed to run out of ammunition. But it just kept going and going," he said. 
 
 What happened in the three hours after the shooting broke out and the gunman was killed was not immediately clear. 
 
 As people lay dying in the club, the shooting developed "into a hostage situation," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said. 
 
 Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said officers initially mistakenly thought the gunman had strapped explosives to some of his victims after a bomb robot sent back images of a battery part next to a body. That held paramedics up from entering the club until it was determined the part had fallen out of an exit sign or smoke detector, the mayor said. 
 
 The robot was sent in after SWAT team members used explosive charges and an armored vehicle to knock down a wall in an effort to access the club. 
 
 About 5 a.m., a decision was made to rescue the remaining club-goers, who authorities said likely were in one of the smaller dance rooms, the Adonis Room. Law enforcement officers used two explosive devices to try to distract the killer and then 11 officers stormed the club and exchanged gunfire with Mateen. 
 
 The explosives jolted some Pulse neighbors awake, including Dorian Ackerman, 28, who noted that it was just after 5 a.m. 
 
 "I heard a woman screaming," he said. "It was really terrifying." 
 
 The gunman started firing, hitting an officer who was saved by protective armor. 
 
 "That's when we took him down," the mayor said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush . ||||| Friends and family pay tribute to the clubgoers who died in the worst mass shooting in American history 
 
 The identities of the Orlando massacre victims have begun to emerge, beginning a tally that officials said could take some time to complete. 
 
 Hundreds of family members and friends gathered in downtown hotels and hospitals waiting to know whether their loved ones were among the living or dead. 
 
 Orlando attack victims: the lives cut short in America's deadliest shooting Read more 
 
 At least one state police officer, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak with the media, told the Guardian he believed it would take at least several more days to identify all the victims of the shooting. 
 
 Among those confirmed dead were young men and women who had just begun careers, moved to Florida to push forward in careers, or established themselves in the city known for international travel, theme parks and vacations. 
 
 Edward Sotomayor, 34 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Edward Sotomayor, a travel agent who was described as ‘super bright’ by his employer. Photograph: Handout/Reuters 
 
 “He was super bright,” said Al Ferguson, owner of Al and Chuck Travel, an agency focused on booking vacations for gay men, about his former employee, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The 34-year-old worked as a brand manager, and had invited Ferguson to come to the club that evening, the newspaper reported. 
 
 'He's coming. I'm gonna die': son's text to mother reveals Orlando shooting terror Read more 
 
 Ferguson told the Sentinel that Sotomayor, knowing the perils that gay, lesbian and transgender travelers could face because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, didn’t shy away from exploring. 
 
 “What I will say, over and over again, was he was a person who said, ‘We cannot be afraid,’” Ferguson told the Sentinel. “I know his friends are going to be the exact same way … We are not going to be afraid.” 
 
 Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest An undated photo from the Instagram account of Juan Ramon Guerrero. Photograph: Handout/Reuters 
 
 Guerrero, 22, had only told his family he was gay before the New Year, his cousin told the Associated Press. 
 
 “He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew,” his cousin Robert Guerrero said. 
 
 He said Guerrero was a telemarketer, and recently began attending school at the University of Central Florida. “He was always this amazing person … he was like a big brother to me.” 
 
 On Sunday morning, after learning that so many people had died at the nightclub that his cousin had gone to once in a while, Robert Guerrero started to become concerned. Later in the day, his fears were realized when the family learned that Guerrero was identified as one of the victims. 
 
 Stanley Almodovar, 23 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stanley Almodovar, one of the victims of the shooting. Photograph: Handout/Reuters 
 
 Almodovar, 23, who worked as a pharmacy technician, was described as “kind but sassy” by a friend, Ivelisse Santiago, according to the Washington Post. She said he defended her when she fell down dancing at a club. “He was so proud of who he was,” she told the newspaper. 
 
 Almodovar’s mother, Rosalie Ramos, was awakened by a call at 2am on Sunday telling her something had happened. She told the Sentinel her son posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to Pulse nightclub. 
 
 “I wish I had that [video] to remember him forever,” she told the newspaper. 
 
 
 
 Eric Ortiz-Rivera, 36 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eric Ortiz-Rivera 36, who died in the Orlando shootings. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Ortiz-Rivera, 36, a merchandiser for Toys “R” Us, was said to have moved to Florida from Puerto Rico to start a career. 
 
 “Eric was always willing to help everybody,” Abismel Colon Gomez, his roommate in Orlando, told the Sentinel. “He sacrificed himself a lot for his family … He loved his brother, and he was always being generous.” 
 
 Luis S Vielma, 22 
 
 Vielma, 22, reportedly lived in nearby Sanford. He worked on the Harry Potter ride at the Universal theme park, according to JK Rowling. 
 
 His Facebook profile showed him pictured with others at Disney World, with the caption: “True friends who become family.” 
 
 High school friend Eddi Anderson told the Tampa Bay Times that Vielma was known for his pleasant attitude and warm demeanor. 
 
 Josh Boesch, who worked with Vielma at Universal, told the Orlando Sentinel: “He was always a friend you could call. He was always open and available.” 
 
 Vielma “just wanted to make people smile”, another co-worker, Olga Glomba, said. 
 
 Kimberly Morris, 37 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kimberly Morris. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Morris, 37, moved to Orlando just a few months ago and had taken a job at Pulse nightclub as a bouncer, the Orlando Sentinel reported. 
 
 “She was so excited,” ex-girlfriend Starr Shelton told the newspaper. “She’d just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there.” 
 
 Friends described Morris as a kind, sweet person. 
 
 Narvell Benning met Morris when they were in college at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut, where Benning said they both played basketball. 
 
 “I can’t think of a time when I did not see a smile on her face,” Benning told the Sentinel. “I’m so thankful of the good memories I have of her. This is just unreal.” 
 
 Peter O Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Peter O Gonzalez-Cruz Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Gonzalez-Cruz, 22, attended high school in New Jersey until 2013 and was working at UPS in Orlando, according to his Facebook page. He spoke both English and Spanish and had lived in Africa. 
 
 His cousins posted messages on Twitter after learning of his death, the Sentinel reported. “Rest in peace to my wonderful cousin,” read one. “May you rest easy in Heaven,” read another. 
 
 A friend on Facebook said Gonzalez-Cruz was known as Peter Ommy, the name relatives and friends used on social media. 
 
 Eddie Justice, 30 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eddie Jamoldroy Justice. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Justice, 30, was an accountant. He texted his mother from the club’s bathroom, telling her to call police. 
 
 His cousin, Millie Ortiz, said he could “walk in and the room would light up”. She said he had been a “gentle soul” who would “give you the shirt off his back” and was “very upfront and outspoken and lived life to the fullest without any regrets”. 
 
 Amanda Alvear, 25 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Amanda Alvear, a nursing student at the University of South Florida. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Alvear, 25, from Davenport, Florida, was a nursing student at the University of South Florida who had posted a Snapchat video of her friends in Pulse – footage which appears to end abruptly with the noise of gunfire. 
 
 Her brother, Brian Alvear, told local newspaper the Ledger that he believed Amanda had been among the hostages taken by Mateen. “A lot of hostages were in the bathroom, last I heard that’s where she was,” he said. 
 
 Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mercedez Marisol Flores. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Flores lived in Davenport, a small town about 45 minutes south of Orlando. She worked at Target there, during the week. 
 
 On Saturday night, Flores had gone to Pulse with friends, including fellow victim Amanda Alvear. She grew up in the Queens borough of New York City, before studying at Valencia community college in Orlando. 
 
 Miguel Honorato, 30 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Miguel Honorato. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Honorato, from Apopka, Florida, had been in the club with three friends, all of whom made it home safe. But Honorato, who had a wife and three children, did not. One of his eight siblings, Jose, told local media Miguel owned a Mexican restaurant with their parents. 
 
 Martin Benitez Torres, 33 
 
 Martin Benitez Torres. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Torres was from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and had recently arrived in Orlando to visit family. On his Facebook page, he posted videos of himself and friends around the city on the day of the shooting, and noted how beautiful he found Orlando. 
 
 In Puerto Rico he studied at the Ana G Méndez University System in San Juan. In the moments after the shooting his friends posted urgent messages to his profile, such as, “please i need your number it’s urgent call me I left my number inbox”. 
 
 Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 
 
 Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo. Photograph: Handout/Reuters 
 
 Ocasio-Capo was a dancer, and worked at a Starbucks in Kissimmee, about half an hour south of Orlando. 
 
 Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Shane Evan Tomlinson. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Tomlinson was the lead singer in an Orlando band called Frequency. 
 
 According the band’s Twitter account, they performed at the Blue Martini Lounge in Orlando at 8pm on Saturday night, before the shooting at Pulse. 
 
 Previously Tomlinson had studied at East Carolina State University, and moved to Orlando about four years ago. 
 
 Enrique L Rios Jr, 25 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Enrique L Rios Jr. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Rios lived in Brooklyn, New York, and was visiting Orlando on vacation. 
 
 In an appeal for help to return her son’s body to New York, his mother, Gertrude, wrote on a crowdfunding page: “My family is torn apart and all I would like is to have my son with me so he can have the funeral he deserves. My son was a good kid. He was just having a great time on his vacation, until this deranged man came in and shot the place up.” 
 
 
 
 Rios studied social work at St Francis College and worked at True Care Home Health Care. 
 
 On Facebook, his grandmother Cynthia Perez wrote of the news of his death: “WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE ENOUGH?” 
 
 Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 
 
 Anthony Luis Laureano Disla. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Disla was born in Puerto Rico. He had studied to become a teacher at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan, and graduated in 2010. 
 
 Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, also known as Silva Gilbert. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Menendez had gone to Pulse with his best friend, Peter “Ommy” Cruz, who was also killed in the massacre. Menendez came from Manati, Puerto Rico, to study healthcare management at Ana G Mendez University in Orlando. He worked at a Speedway store. 
 
 Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Deonka Deidra Drayton. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Drayton was known to friends and family as Dee Dee. She worked at Pulse, according to her aunt, Patricia Drayton Banks: “My neice (sic) ... was killed in this horrible tragedy,” Banks wrote on Facebook. “Senseless. She was at work !!! R.I.P Dee Dee. You know this Auntie will miss you.” 
 
 Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 
 
 
 
 Jorge-Reyes worked as a supervisor at the Gucci store in Orlando. He grew up in Guayama, Puerto Rico, and studied at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. 
 
 Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 
 
 Jean Carlos Mendez Perez. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 
 
 Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 
 
 
 
 Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 
 
 
 
 Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, also known as Jimmy De Jesus. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Velazquez was from Puerto Rico, and traveled the world as a professional Jíbaro dancer (Jíbaro is a traditional Puerto Rican folk dance). 
 
 According to the Orlando Weekly, a friend said that Velazquez was with two other friends at Pulse, where the dancer was pushed against a wall by the shooter, Omar Mateen. His friends escaped, and did not see Velazquez again. 
 
 Cory James Connell, 21 
 
 Cory James Connell. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Connell’s family and friends remembered him online as “the greatest friend” with a “bright shining smile”. 
 
 His brother, Ryan, wrote on Facebook: “So.. we have been informed that Cory Connell is no longer with us. The superhero of our family! A family man through and through. The world lost an amazing soul.” 
 
 Brandon Powers, a friend of Connell’s, wrote: “We were so close freshman year of high school and after I moved I let distance get the best of us and I’ll never forgive myself for that.” 
 
 The College Park Community newspaper, a small publication in the Orlando area, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the Connell family’s expenses. 
 
 Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Oscar A Aracena-Montero. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Simon Adrian Carillo Fernandez. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Luis Daniel Conde, 39 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luis Daniel Conde. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jason Benjamin Josaphat. Photograph: Facebook 
 
 Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 
 
 
 
 Darryl Roman Burt II. Photograph: Jacksonville Jaycees 
 
 City authorities in Orlando also added the following names to the list of victims: 
 
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– A mother whose son was killed in the Orlando, Fla., shooting has shared the terrifying final text messages she received. Mina Justice, who spoke to the AP before her 30-year-old son, Eddie, was confirmed dead, says she was woken up at 2:06am by the messages: "Mommy I love you" and "In club they shooting." He told her he was trapped in the bathroom of the Pulse nightclub and urged her to call police. She called 911 and exchanged more messages with her son as she spoke to the dispatcher. "He's coming. I'm gonna die," Eddie texted at 2:39am. "Hurry," he wrote minutes later. "He's in the bathroom with us." She asked him, "Is the man in the bathroom wit u?" At 2:50am, he wrote "He's a terror," and then sent his final message: "Yes." It would be more than two hours until police stormed the club, killing gunman Omar Mateen after the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Eddie Justice was on a partial list of victims released by police Sunday night, the Guardian reports. His mother says he was an accountant who was generally a homebody but who loved to make people laugh. The Orlando Sentinel has the names and stories of more of the 50 victims, almost all of whom were in their 20s or 30s. (On Sunday night, vigils were held across the US.)