December 10th, 2020

Pulse: Orlando Nightclub Shooting

Maya, Robert, Dani, Sam, Meaghan, Ellie & Cheyenne
Introduction
What Happened
● Mass Shooting that left 49 people dead, over 50 injured on June 12, 2016 at and Orlando
Nightclub
● Pulse Nightclub was a LGBTQ nightclub
● Omar Mateen
● He became angry after seeing two men kissing in Miami, mentally
unstable
● It was an act of violence committed against the LGBTQ community
● Had a automatic rifle and the shooting began at the door with a police officer
● Within minutes, SWAT had arrived but it had now became a hostage situation
● He threatened that he had explosives
● The police took the decision to storm the building which ended in shootout that killed him
● Crisis Leadership was important because the police had to make very big decisions that
greatly affected the outcome of the shooting in a short amount of time
Prior Leadership Structures

● Small Business
● Founded in 2004 by Barbara Poma & Ron Legler
○ Named in honor of Poma’s brother, John
○ John passed due to AIDS in 1991
● Poma wanted Pulse to be more than “just another gay club”
○ Safe space
○ President Obama stated: Pulse was a “refuge for LGBTQ+ and Hispanic People”
● Welcoming & embraced the LGBTQ+ community
● SAMHSA = Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration
○ Disaster behavioral health, assistance, and response
○ Notes emotional & psychological responses
○ Before crisis: General policies that did not include much behavioral health
Description of Crisis
Phase I 2:00 am: on June 12, 2016
More than 300 people were inside the Orlando LGBTQ Pulse
nightclub celebrating a popular Latin night.
Mateen open fired at the entrance of the club
● After about 10 minutes many were dead, injured, evacuated
or trying to evacuate
● After 20 minutes many horrific events took place in the
nightclub
● This was spread from the media and many calls for help to
law enforcement
Phase II 2:35 am:
Mateen places a call to 911 letting them know he was the active
shooter
● The horrific event spun from an active shooter to a hostage
situation
● Over the next hour he spoke to negotiators 3 times 28
minutes on the phone
Phase III 4:21 am:
Executive enforcement were able to help hostages free from
removing an AC in one of the dressing room by the bathroom
Phase IV 5:02 am:
A wall was knocked down at the nightclub with an armored
vehicle
● Many hostages were set free from the club
● Mateen was killed engaging in a gun battle with a
dozen police officers
Phase V 11:15 am:
Enforcement teams determined that the club and vehicles
were safe
● No explosives were found in or outside the
Aftermath
● The new focus was to identify and find individuals that
were injured or killed.
● Many families filled hospital waiting rooms in hopes to
get any information on their loved ones. Advocates of
all kinds came together and in hopes to help the
victims and families in reuniting with each other.
On Monday, June 13
● Enforcement had announced that 49 people killed, and
more than 53 people wounded
● Pulse shooting as the largest LGBTQ.
 Life During Crisis
● Split second tactical and operational decisions
● Relationships had developed over many years
○ Orlando law enforcement community,
Mayor Dyer, Chief Mina
○ Regular planning meetings and honest assessments, broke down
barriers to communication and collaboration during the crisis
■ Consistent flow of information throughout incident
● FBI’s information on the suspect was classified, but because enforcement
leaders had the appropriate federal clearances, the FBI could share
information with them regarding the suspect
 ● Community BBQ and other get togethers
Life After Crisis throughout the city for interaction with
officers in social settings
● Appointed OPD’s first LGBTQ liaison
● SAMHSA incorporated behavioral
○ Focused engagement strategy with the
health employees in mock crisis
LGBTQ community
exercises
○ Ensure that the OPD understands
● Ensure that an array of mental health
issues facing the LGBTQ community
and wellness resources are available
● The entire community rallied, not just the
○ Law enforcement mental health
LGBTQ community
experts and chiefs
○ PTSD and stress management
information, assessments of
well-being of personal
○ Recap of all the mental health and
wellness resources available
● Through early statements, the tone of
the response was set
○ Resiliency and unity
 Crisis Leaders

● OPD / SWAT Team / FBI

○ Called on to make split-second crucial decisions in unpredictable and urgent environment
○ “Weighed bad options against worse, putting victims safety ahead of their own”
● Chief Mina
○ Incident commander
○ Mission - save lives
● Imran Yousuf
○ Bouncer & former Marine - his quick thinking saved dozens of lives
● Danny Banks
○ Former Deputy Sheriff, Special Agent in Charge
○ Deployed 70+ agents and analysts to assist in gathering intelligence during incident
● Media
○ Sharing ways to donate, providing services to victims and families
● Obama + Biden Administration
○ Condemed LGBTQ+ discrimination and spoke on gun control in press conferences following shooting
Theory: Braden
Theory: Braden
Preparation Phase (Before the incident, low stress)

● Before the shooting, everything seemed like a normal night at the club

Emergency Phase (The incident itself, high stress)

● The shooting occurred and the institution began to respond by directing clientele on
what to do and working to minimize the threat

Adaptive Phase (How things change after the incident, varying stress)

● After the shooting, the institution through critically about safety precautions to
prevent this behavior and advocacy to promote LGBTQ+ rights
Theory: Braden
Comfort Zone (preparation)

● Business as usual, Pulse before the shooting, main mission, values, and vision are
being upheld

Learning Zone (adaptive)

● Finding new ways to combat discrimination through advocacy and safety

precautions, moving forward and using the situation to make an impact on society

Danger Zone (emergency, adaptive)

● Anxiety about the event stops the institution from running at a capacity that is
beneficial for the LGBTQ+ community, the issue is not addressed, Pulse becomes a
place that is not safe for LGBTQ+ people
Theory: Lalonde
Theory: Lalonde
Collectivists:
● OPD/SWAT Team/FBI (Pragmatic)
● Chief Mina (Humanist)
● Media (Humanist)

Integrators:
● Danny Banks (Periphery)
● Obama + Biden Administration (Mobilizers)

Reactives:
● Imran Yousuf (Contingent)
Conclusion
● Long Lasting impacts on the country especially the LGBTQ
community
○ Vigils and observances were held all around the world
● Obama action- legislative response to gun violence
○ Push for stricter gun laws to prevent future mass
shootings

The Pulse Nightclub shooting went through 3 phases

○ Comfort zone, learning zone and danger zone
● This Crisis has a long lasting impact on the world in which it
changed the lives of many people
○ Many decisions had to be made quickly that could’ve
had a drastic impact on the outcome
Sources

https://www.britannica.com/event/Orlando-shooting-of-2016

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/Publications/cops-w0857-pub.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/13/more-than-just-another-gay-club-pulse-was-fou
nded-in-her-brothers-memory-and-named-for-his-beating-heart/

https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/dialogue-vol-13-issue-3-4.pdf.pdf

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/06/12/president-obama-tragic-shooting-orlando

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2016/06/14/marine-vet-s-quick-actions-saved-dozens-o
f-lives-during-orlando-nightclub-shooting/