ORLANDO, Fla. — A report recently released by the Orlando Police Department has started to fill in the blanks of the June 12 Pulse nightclub shooting that left 49 dead and 53 injured.
In the 71-page report, Officer Michael Ragsdale, described the scene as he walked into the nightclub shortly after 2 a.m., when the shooting was reported.
“Once I entered into the club, I noticed about 60 victims lying on the floor,” he wrote. “… I remember feeling hands grab my ankles as I walked by the victims as they were asking for help.”
With another officer, Ragsdale worked to locate the shooter, Omar Mateen, the report said.
Then he heard gunfire coming from the area of the club's rear bar.
“As I made entry into the back bar area, I saw two Orlando police officers, on the north side, shooting down the deep hallway,” Ragsdale wrote. “At that time I could not see what they were shooting at.”
Ragsdale’s report did not say if anyone was shooting back at the officers.
After about 30 minutes, “a dark-skinned man came crawling out of the deep hallway, where the officers were shooting," Ragsdale wrote.
Officers were able to evacuate the man from the building, the report said.
The report did not say if he was injured.
When an OPD officer identified only as C. Reynolds arrived at the scene minutes after the shooting was reported, he found off-duty officer Adam Gruler waiting for backup.
Gruler was working security at Pulse on the night of the shooting.
Reynolds, the first officer on the scene, reported seeing “concrete and sparks flying from bullets coming through the south door.”
Officer James Falbo Jr., further described the chaos of the first few minutes at the club.
“I met up with several officers who were surrounding the building and asked them where the shooting was coming from,” Falbo wrote. “I was unable to get a clear answer and proceeded to the front door of the club where I observed several officers ‘stacked’ at the door.
“As I approached the officers, I waved them into the building.”
An officer identified only by the last name Austin recalled helping victims and the moment members of the OPD SWAT team breached the club and killed Mateen in a shootout.
He saw the gunman die as he and another officer dragged a victim with multiple gunshot wounds from the building, the report said.
Austin said his focus was on keeping the injured shooting victim alert and responsive.
“I began looking at the wounds the victim had and began speaking to him,” Austin wrote. “’Stay with me. Keep fighting. We will get you to safety, stay with us.”
Hours passed between the first shots and the moment Mateen was killed, and it wasn’t until he was getting into his police cruiser that Austin was hit by what he, the victims and the city had just been through.
“I picked up a black female with a gunshot to her right knee,” he wrote. "She began screaming in agony as I knelt beside her and began holding her hand tightly … as I looked at her, I told her to stay strong and keep breathing … she nodded and began breathing heavily.
“During this time, I realized I was covered in blood from my fingertips to my elbows.”
Cox Media Group
