The owner of
Pulse, the gay nightclub where 49 people were killed in a terror attack last
year, has announced plans for a memorial on the site.
The attack on
the Orlando venue last June also saw 53 people injured at the hands of gunman
Omar Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police.
The massacre was
the worst shooting in modern US history.
Orlando
Mayor Buddy Dyer suggested in August that the club should be taken
into public ownership by the city in order to convert the entire site into a
permanent public memorial.
But despite a
bid of $2.25 million from the city, owner Barbara Poma refused to sell.
Ms Poma, who
originally opened the club in memory of her late brother, said she was unable
to part with the property.
She told local
press at the time that she would create a “permanent memorial at the existing
site of Pulse.
“This decision
truly came just from my heart and my passion for Pulse, and everything it’s
meant to me and my family for the last 12 years since its inception.
“So I think the
struggle was you know, letting it go, and it’s just something I could not come
to grips with.”
Poma’s onePULSE
Foundation, which she created soon after the terror attack, will supply the
funds necessary for the memorial, it is understood.
Ms Poma said
she will announce the details of the memorial next week.
Last month, the
US government gave the state of Florida $8.5 million to fund grief
counselling for victims, witnesses and first responders to the Pulse massacre.
The grant from
the Department of Justice will also reimburse the family assistance centre
which was set up just after the shooting.
Speaking to
local TV station News13 at the time, Ricardo Negron – who was in Pulse during
the attack – said: “It’s something so needed to ensure that the services are
being given.”
Negron realised
he needed counselling a month after the massacre.
“It was the
difference between basically being able to function.
“I was holding
it in, saying: ‘Oh, you can get through this by yourself,’” he said.
“And it got to
a point where anything would trigger a reaction, a flashback. The counselling
has helped a lot.
“I was
fortunate enough to make it out physically unharmed.”
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