ORLANDO, Fla. — Sunday marks six years since a gunman killed 49 people, injured 53 others and traumatized hundreds more at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The early morning attack on June 12, 2016, is considered the second deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, topped only by a shooting in the parking lot of a Las Vegas casino during the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in 2017 that claimed 59 lives and injured 867, The Washington Post reported.
The shooting in Orlando also marked the deadliest incident of violence against the LGBTQ+ community in modern U.S. history.
The gunman was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, NPR reported. He was killed in a shootout with Orlando police, who converged on the nightclub.
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The onePULSE Foundation closed off the area around the former nightclub for a vigil with the victims’ families Sunday at 2 a.m. EDT, WFTV reported.
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Multiple events are scheduled later Sunday, including the annual 49 Bells Ceremony at First United Methodist Church and the Remembrance Ceremony at the Pulse Interim Memorial at 7 p.m. EDT, according to the television station.
Sunday’s events in Orlando come a day after “March For Our Lives” rallies were held nationwide. Advocates were demanding legislative changes after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. A gunman killed 17 students and staff members and injured 17 others at the South Florida school.
Forty-nine wooden crosses bearing a photograph of one of the victims in the 2016 shooting were installed at the Orange County Regional History Center. The center will host remembrances beginning at 12 p.m. EDT until 5 p.m., according to the onePULSE Foundation website. Admission to the museum will be free.