Ten years ago this week, Christine Leinonen woke up at 3 a.m. in her Polk County home to news that changed her life. It was a Facebook post from one of her son Christopher’s friends talking about an attack at Pulse Nightclub. Leinonen didn’t know it then, but Christopher had been shot nine times. He was amongst the 49 people killed in the Pulse shooting on June 12, 2016.
“When I think about that, what is so painful,” Leinonen said, reflecting on that night. “How painful a bullet (from a semi-automatic rifle)is to the human body, just how much gunpowder is in one piercing, and for him to have nine, and none of them hit major organs. He probably wasn’t dead. He probably was alive, and who knows how long he was alive. He could have been in shock, and his body protected him from it. He could have witnessed a lot, and then to know that he lay there…”
Friday marks the 10-year remembrance of what is widely considered Orlando’s darkest day, when a gunman stormed Pulse, killing 49 people and injuring 58 others. It may seem like a long time ago for some, but for many others, the grief remains strong…