It was about 2 a.m. at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando hosting its regular Latin night, when the music was interrupted by gunfire.
"Bang! Bang! Screaming. And loud noises. The guy next to me was shot ... when I turned around to look everyone was falling and dropping and screaming," said Christopher Hansen who was in Pulse when the shooting started.
Hansen described on
"I just know when you hear the bang you're not shot, so I knew I was OK at that particular moment. I didn't know how long it would last."
LIVE on #Periscope: Witness describes shooting at Pulse nightclub, 'blood everywhere' https://t.co/phHWunV982
— Christal Hayes (@Journo_Christal) June 12, 2016
Luis Burbank, who was at the club when the shooting happened, told CNN he and a friend thought the popping sound was music, but quickly realized it was gunfire as it got "closer and louder and louder."
"We tried to save ourselves and as many people as we could to make it out of there,” Burbank told the news outlet.
The shooting became a hostage situation, which lasted roughly three hours and left 50 people dead, including the shooter, according to police. More than 50 people were also taken to hospitals with injuries.
Around 3 a.m., Pulse posted on Facebook urging people leave. "Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running," the nightclub said in the post.
Some people reported hiding in the bathroom until law enforcement secured the area.
Ricardo Negron Almodovar said he and a group of friends were able to escape when the gunman briefly stopped shooting, the BBC reported.
"We heard rapid fire go off. In the room I was in, people went down to the floor. I wasn't able to see the shooter or people get hurt," Ricardo Negron Almodovar told the BBC. "At some point, there was a brief pause, and a group of us got up and went to the exit that leads to the patio area outside. We found an exit and after that ...I just ran."
Omg. Shooting at pulse. We hid in the bathroom. And we can't find our friends.
— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) June 12, 2016
Others may have escaped through back entrances.
a follower of mine has msgd me on snapchat informing me he's ok. he and friends escaped via backdoor. #PulseOrlando pic.twitter.com/JKOGRErlJM
— ELIAS (@wtfelias) June 12, 2016
In several videos taken from beyond the police barricades, gunfire can be heard.
Video of shots being fired outside of Pulse night club in #Orlando pic.twitter.com/tyWXneIR5i
— Joel Franco (@OfficialJoelF) June 12, 2016
Gunfire exchanged at #pulse nightclub hostage situation in #Orlando. pic.twitter.com/qeF0s6Ien6
— Nic Hornstein (@nichornstein) June 12, 2016
Orlando Police are asking witnesses to go to police headquarters.
Contributing: Mary Bowerman
