Sheriffs discuss Pulse nightclub shooting on eighth anniversary of massacre

Two Florida sheriffs who both responded to the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016 sat down to discuss the incident on its eighth anniversary, according to footage released Wednesday (June 12).

Footage filmed and posted to Facebook by the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, Florida, shows Sheriff John Mina and Undersheriff Mark Canty discussing the 2016 shooting, in which 49 people were killed by a 29-year-old man named Omar Mateen at a gay venue. -friendly nightclub.

At the time of the shooting, Mina was chief of the Orlando Police Department and Canty was the CRUSH Team Commander. Both were trying to save the dozens of hostages held by the shooter on site. Mina and Canty spoke about how law enforcement responded to the incident and how the community came together to honor the victims.

“We always honor the victims, and above all, never forgetting them,” Mina said. “I think they would have wanted us to continue to honor them by spreading love, not hate, and making this community new and better than it was before.” Credit: Orange County, Florida Sheriff's Office via Storyful

Video transcription

At the time of the shooting at Pulse nightclub.

Sheriff John Mina was Chief of the Orlando Police Department under Sheriff Mark Canti, Commander of the Response Team.

Both men are now at the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

They recently sat down to discuss what's been happening at Pulse.

It's part of their conversation.

So when you arrived at the scene, what did you see first?

What I immediately noticed was the strong presence of law enforcement.

And I would say, uh, without a doubt, it was one of the greatest police presences I've ever seen on a scene.

There were multiple agencies, you know, multiple patrol cars and command posts, and it was unlike anything I'd ever responded to.

So what was it about the layout and the situation that made it difficult to, uh, formulate a plan and execute the hostage rescue mission.

What made it difficult was once we found out where, where we thought people were, they were, most of the people were in two bathrooms that were downstairs , up, down at the end of a hallway and the doors are completely opposite and not knowing what the walls were made of, uh, I didn't feel safe sending officers down that hallway, knowing that if he our officers heard, he could easily shoot through the wall.

Yes, when I informed people about this incident and other law enforcement officials and, uh, you know, in the media, the public, I told them that in my opinion, this is one of the most complex and challenging critical incidents law enforcement has ever encountered. had never dealt with.

And I, I wasn't afraid, I felt very prepared as a team because we had done it, we had talked about things and, uh, over the last 10 years probably, we had talked about things active shooter type or terrorist events and what some of the potential targets might be.

I never thought it would be a nightclub at two o'clock on a Sunday morning.

I had a lot of confidence in the abilities of our team, uh, and also in the abilities of the surrounding agencies that helped us.

And I, one thing that I noticed even though we're going through this right now is that, you know, despite the danger of the explosives, the officers and deputies remained at their posts, you know, and uh, I showed extreme bravery and courage.

Did the incident start to wind down and you had to address the media, what was going through your mind and what do you think you were going to tell them about what happened?

I want to be very clear on several things.

When I addressed the audience, one of them was exactly what happened.

You know, what information do we have?

What led to this event?

Most importantly, our community was now safe, moving forward, and the threat was over.

Unfortunately, we saved dozens of lives.

Um, you know, this very nasty individual, uh, it cost us 49 our lives but going forward, you know, we were going to keep this community safe.

Did you ever go into Pulse nightclub that night?

Or, or in the coming days?

Have you ridden yet?

No.

And there was a specific reason for that: my decision was very deliberate.

Um, so I had heard, you know, uh, what that crime scene entailed and what it looked like and I didn't want those images to cloud my judgment and my decision making, over the course of three or four days and even the following weeks.

Second, it's a crime scene.

So why go to a crime scene and disrupt a crime scene when there’s no need to do so?

And so, but I, but more importantly, I know that I had to keep a clear head and not let that judge, uh, my decisions going forward.

So, are you thinking about, uh, the victims and the victims' families?

Yes, I think of the victims and their families and, uh, some of the survivors.

I'm just, I'm just amazed that they were able to survive and the families of the victims, my whole heart goes out to them.

I think of them a lot.

I think a lot about their survivors and the victims.

But I, I'm just glad that, uh, that we, that we've kind of come back together as a community.

And I know there's a lot of talk about the car that Orlando created after Paul's.

We didn't get together after Pulse.

We were, we were together.

We've had a lot of good relationships and we're there to support each other, no matter where we're from or anything like that.

We are here to support each other.

So I think that makes me feel good, Sheriff.

Um, how are you going to honor the victims in the future?

But we always honor the victims.

Above all, let us never forget them, let us never forget them and their families, the suffering they endured.

I think they would have wanted us to continue honoring them by spreading love not hate and making this an even better community than it was before.

Most of the time, you know, never forgetting who they were telling their names to, looking at their pictures, you know, you know, hugging their parents and their siblings.

You know, when we can, when we see them, I think that's what they would want.