{"id":3819,"date":"2026-06-12T10:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3819"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:35:52","slug":"maxwell-10-years-after-pulse-orlando-wont-let-anyone-erase-this-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=3819","title":{"rendered":"Maxwell: 10 years after Pulse, Orlando won\u2019t let anyone erase this tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some people forget how that weekend unfolded.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, an obsessed fan shot and killed pop singer Christina Grimmie in Orlando\u2019s landmark Plaza theater.<\/p>

Read more Audubon Center for Birds of Prey features new owl aviary, \u2018Rainbow Raptors\u2019 this month<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a jarringly macabre way for fantasy land to make national news. So when the sun rose Sunday and news anchors were still talking about a shooting in Orlando, it made sense to assume they were still talking about that shooting.<\/p>\n

But no, this was something different. At a nightclub.<\/p>\n

Early reports suggested multiple people were killed. Maybe a dozen. Maybe more.<\/p>\n

By the time Mayor Buddy Dyer stepped in front of a microphone to deliver the official report, the human toll was impossible to believe.<\/p>\n

Forty-nine. The largest mass shooting in American history.<\/p>\n

For the next week, our newsroom was nonstop. We talked with grieving mothers and fathers, children and spouses. It was beyond tragic, but we wanted to tell these victims\u2019 stories and honor their lives. So we steeled our nerves and did our jobs.<\/p> \n

It\u2019s strange the things that can finally break you.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d kept it together while talking to victims\u2019 loved ones. Yet when the cards started coming into our newsroom \u2014 notes of support from newsrooms that had previously covered mass shootings in Charleston, Colorado, Sandy Hook and elsewhere \u2014 I remember sobbing.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t just weeping for Orlando, but for humanity. So much bloodshed. So much senselessness. And so much societal indifference \u2026 or at least resignation that it would happen again. Las Vegas would shatter our grisly, record body count just a year later.<\/p>\n

Still, Pulse was different. The victims here were part of a community that had historically been targeted and marginalized. By society and specifically by this state.<\/p> \n

Florida was one of the last states in America to repeal its bans on both gay marriage and adoption. We were dragged kicking, screaming and court-ordered into the age of equality.<\/p>\n

Yet Orlando wasn\u2019t like the rest of Florida. We\u2019re something of an oasis, a place known for love and inclusivity in a state that revels in division.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrlando rescued me as a young kid who wasn\u2019t sure I had a place in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are the words of Brandon Wolf, who finally found a safe haven in Orlando, only to have that serenity shattered on June 12. For he was in the nightclub that fateful night.<\/p>\n

Wolf was in the bathroom when the shooting started. He lost two of his best friends. He wasn\u2019t sure how to carry on.<\/p>\n

But Orlando made sure Wolf and the others knew that they were loved and supported. The community rallied with vigils and blood drives, prayers and performances.<\/p>\n

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who was sheriff at the time, said he not only saw empathy but also epiphany from some people who hadn\u2019t previously appreciated the struggles of this marginalized community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was part of the miracle that I saw unfolding,\u201d Demings said. \u201cThe goodness of humanity reigned supreme. And good things just kept happening.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Editorial: In the aftermath of horror, Orlando chose love<\/a><\/p>\n

Wolf said he noticed it all and took it all in. \u201cIt felt like Orlando came out on June 13 and decided to be unapologetically inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for a while, the rest of the world joined us, using rainbow lights to illuminate everything from the Eiffel Tower to Sydney\u2019s Harbour Bridge.<\/p>\n

The state of Florida was all-in as well with visual shows of support in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

Orlando was Florida. Florida was America. And love was love was love.<\/p>\n