Orlando gunman was laughing during massacre: survivor

The gunman laughed as he killed terrified clubgoers hiding in a bathroom stall at a Florida nightclub, shooting survivor Norman Casiano told CNN.

At Least 50 Dead

Source: Getty

Survivor Norman Casiano, 26, has spoken to about how he was shot at while cowering inside a bathroom stall at the popular Orlando LGBTI nightclub, where 49 people were brutally killed by gunman Omar Marteen. 

Mr Casiano was discharged after being shot twice during the ordeal, but said it's the sound of the shooter's laugh which continue to haunt him.

"It’s something that’s imprinted in my head for the rest of my life," he said.

“I’ve literally been in the hospital for two days trying to sleep, and one of the first things I hear when I close my eyes are guns, bullets hitting the floor and that laugh.
"It was like a villain in a movie, it was a laugh of satisfaction, like 'I’m doing what I came here to do'.

"It was pure evil, that’s what it sounded like, it didn’t even sound like a person at that point, he didn’t speak."

Mr Casiano was shot for the first time when Marteen sprayed the stall he was hiding inside.

"At that point someone starts screaming, like 'please, please don't shoot us' and he does the first round through the door," he said.
He recounted getting shot for a second time as others continued to beg for mercy.

"He just put his hand over the stall and just free shot," he said.

"I remember I looked up for five seconds and looked down, and shimmied over - and that's when he got me.
"He got other people and people screamed because a few of them passed away at that moment in time. And, I just dropped to the floor, I guess he thought that whoever was in there he already got. So he left."

Norman made it out when police bulldozed through the bathroom wall, and recounted to  that he crawled over bodies to get away from the gunman.


 

 

 

 


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Published 14 June 2016 6:10pm
Updated 14 June 2016 7:51pm
Source: SBS News

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