ORLANDO, Fla. — Ten years after the Pulse nightclub attack, law enforcement officers and investigators who responded to the massacre say the memories of that night have not faded.
Mike Napolitano, a SWAT officer who helped rescue victims during the June 12, 2016, attack, survived after a round struck his helmet, WFTV reported. The gunman’s AR-15 later jammed, preventing him from firing additional rounds during the confrontation, according to the report.
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The attack, which killed 49 people and wounded 53 others, began as an active shooter call and shifted into a barricaded hostage situation before SWAT officers breached the nightclub and killed the gunman.
John Mina, Orlando’s police chief at the time and now Orange County sheriff, told the Orlando Sentinel he initially thought the shooting might be gang-related before it became clear officers were dealing with a hostage situation.
Mina worked from a mobile command center as officers outside the club exchanged gunfire with the gunman during the three-hour standoff, according to the Sentinel.
“I remember after that first night just sitting on the couch taking a breath and watching all the national news coverage of our agency and our city, the people in our community that had been killed,” Mina said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Wow, this is huge.’”
Mina said the lessons from Pulse continue to shape training and equipment decisions. He told the Sentinel that OPD and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office now conduct active shooter training annually, more often than before the attack. He also cited investments in rifle-rated ballistic armor, military-style vehicles and upgraded breaching equipment for SWAT teams.
For Danny Banks, then the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s special agent in charge for the Orlando region, the night still feels close.
“It’s been 10 years. I remember it like it was yesterday,” Banks told FOX 35.
Banks said one moment that stayed with him was seeing a mother holding a phone that showed her son’s location still inside the club.
“She knew the location of his phone was still inside the Pulse and she couldn’t find him,” Banks said.
Michael Glock, a former U.S. Border Patrol intelligence agent and one of the first federal counterterrorism officers to arrive, told FOX 35 he still deals with PTSD from the response.
“Noises, balloon pops, those type of things, um, I’ll get triggers,” Glock said.
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Former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper, who helped lead the federal investigation, told WFLX the scene remains the worst he has encountered in his career.
“Absolutely the most horrific scene that I have been either involved with or tasked with leading in my career so far,” Hopper said.
Hopper said he thinks about Pulse almost daily.
The anniversary has brought renewed attention to the officers, agents and first responders who ran toward the nightclub that morning, many of whom continue to carry the weight of what they saw.
Banks, now Orange County’s director of public safety, said he hopes the unity that followed the attack is not forgotten.
“It’s kind of a shame that it takes those major tragic incidents to unite us all on some things,” Banks said. “But unfortunately, sometimes it does, and that was a good thing that came.”
