In a video released by the onePULSE foundation, a figure in a wheelchair and wearing a baseball cap is seen setting fire to the memorial dedicated to the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
The arson incident occurred on October 12, but the onePULSE foundation has just released the security footage on their Facebook page in the hopes that it will help lead to an arrest.
If you know this individual (watch from minute 2:30), please call the OPD information line at 407-246-2470 and reference case number 2021-003-693-96, said the nonprofit.
We appreciate your support. #WeWillNotLetHateWin https://t.co/3hJJBUaGfe— Kimmel to trump: Isn’t it past your jail time (@MaggieJordanACN) November 8, 2021
“On October 12 around 8:30 p.m. EST, an individual damaged our offering wall. Three Angel banners were burned along with other items within the affected area,” onePULSE said alongside the video release, before encouraging the public to contact authorities if they recognise the culprit. The foundation also used the #WeWillNotLetHateWin.
Although three banners were burned the overall damage was, thankfully, minimal. The vandal fled the scene as soon as the banners were ablaze and the fire died almost entirely on its own, although a passerby who happened upon the Pulse memorial stomped out the final dwindling flames.
“Fire investigators are working the case,” said Jenny DeSantis, spokesperson of the Fire Department. “This is an open and active investigation.”
https://twitter.com/onePULSEorg/status/1455899068304175104
On June 12, 2016, 49 victims tragically lost their lives on ‘Latin Night’ at the LGBTQ+ hotspot, Pulse nightclub, while 53 others were wounded in the three-hour stand-off between gunman Omar Mateen and law enforcement officers.
With approximately 320 people in the venue at the time of attack, the first shots rang out at around 2 AM and eventually the gunman was killed by SWAT teams who managed to breach the building.
Pulse owner, Barbara Poma, went on to establish onePULSE, the non-profit behind the temporary memorial that came under this fiery attack in October. Poma has a goal of establishing a permanent memorial nearby in the vicinity of Pulse nightclub.
About its origins, the onePULSE foundation said, “The Pulse Memorial is a sanctuary of quiet reflection and love dedicated to honoring the senseless loss of innocent life and remembering the horrible attack that occurred on June 12, 2016.”
‘We'll never fully recover, but we'll remember,' said President Joe Biden vowing to fight for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community as he designated the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a national memorial, to honor the 49 people killed in a 2016 mass shooting https://t.co/hdt1aeyHGM pic.twitter.com/2vxJrPwnxU
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 25, 2021
Five years after the tragic event, which is the shooting with the second-highest body count at the hand of a single gunman in US history, President Joe Biden signed a law that designated the former nightclub a national memorial site. He signed the legislation at a ceremony attended by the event’s survivors and said that he hopes no future presidents will have to sign anything like that again.
“A place of acceptance and joy became a place of unspeakable pain and loss,” he said at the ceremony. “We’ll never fully recover, but we’ll remember.”
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