ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Some patrons of Florida’s Pulse nightclub are upset they aren’t receiving money from a $29.5 million victims’ compensation fund since they were outside the club when a mass shooting began.
In one email sent to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a patron says he and his boyfriend were in the valet area outside the gay nightclub when a gunman began shooting last June 12 at the entrance.
The patron says both were traumatized but aren’t getting compensation because of eligibility standards that require a patron to have been inside the club during the shooting to receive money.
That email and others were obtained through a public records request.
Omar Mateen was killed by police after opening fire at the Pulse nightclub on June 12 in a rampage that left 49 victims dead and 53 wounded, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Mateen professed allegiance to the Islamic State group.
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