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Pulse Tragedy

Mass shooting at a nightclub in 2016.
March 23, 2026 by
Pulse Tragedy
Jax
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The Basics

Location: Pulse nightclub at 1912 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL, U.S.A.

When was it: June 12, 2016, early morning

What was it: Mass shooting at a gay nightclub

Victims: 49 deaths (by perpetrator), perpetrator, 53 people shot, 5+ other physical injuries, and 200+ with (non-physical) trauma.


The Pulse Tragedy, also known as the Pulse Shooting, the Orlando Night Club Shooting, and more happened on June 12, 2016 in the early morning. The perpetrator, whose name will not be given, due to the no notoriety protocol, had used a military-style rifle, along with a handgun to shoot a total of 102, killing 49 people, and hurting 53 more.

​The attack is the deadliest act of violence towards the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as the deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11 (until the Las Vegas shooting). "a milestone" Says Britannica, "[it] made problematic by the uncertain definition of such an event." The victims ranged from 18-50 years old, and were primarily LGBTQIA+ and Latinx.

After holding dozens of people as hostages (in the bathrooms), the police breached a wall with both explosives and ramming devices, they then shot the perpetrator.

Pulse Nightclub

The Pulse Nightclub was a gay bar, nightclub, and dance club. It was Founded in 2004 by Ron Legler and Barbara Poma. In November 2016, the city of Orlando offered to buy Pulse, instead, Poma decided to start the onePULSE Foundation, you can view it here

On the night of June 11th, two latinx performers were up; Jasmine Jimenez (who's drag persona was Jasmine International) and Kenya Olivera (who's drag persona was Kenya Michaels.) Detective Adam Gruler, an OPD (Orlando Police Dept.) oficer had been working off-duty hours as a bouncer. He was in uniform, and armed with a handgun, however, he had no protective gear. As he arrived for his shift that night (aprox. 11:40 pm), he was informed that an underage person had gotten in using a fake ID. He found this person, and brought them outside, however they had ran off. In response, Gruler left Pulse in his unmarked police vehicle at around 1:00 to 1:20 AM, with the intention to find the suspect. After the failure of that, he parked in the same spot he had before (the sidewalk parallel to Esther Street on the south side of the club) and proceded to either stay inside the car (according to Jonathan Watts) or stand next to the car (according to him)


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