50 KILLED IN GAY CLUBS IN ORLANDO

Strobe lights were flashing and music
blaring at the popular lounge, home to
one of the hottest party scenes in Florida
-- and where around 50 people were killed
and 53 injured in a mass shooting on
Sunday.
Just a few days earlier, Orlando 's vibrant
LGBT community had marked the
annual Gay Days celebration, one of the
biggest events anywhere in the United
States dedicated to gay pride.
The partying was to go on at Pulse, a
popular dance club and bar known for its
drag shows.
"Tonight 21 and up is FREEEEEEEE before
11pm," Kenya Michaels, a well-known
Puerto Rican drag queen who was slated
to perform at the club, posted on
Facebook earlier Saturday.
"Come see me show time at 12 am at
Pulse Orlando Doors open at 9 pm. My
sister Jasmine international is performing
with me," posted Michaels -- who escaped
the shooting unharmed.
Scores of people turned out for the show:
A contest of dancing, lip-synching drag
queens took the floor one by one, showing
their best dance moves, sashaying in high
heels, as patrons laughed, nursed their
cocktails, tossed dollar bills onto the
stage.
One dancer with swiveling hips and a
Beyonce-like mane slinked around the
stage, as video footage posted online on
Periscope captured the revelry.
Crowd of patrons thronged the area just
off-stage, raised bottles of alcohols and
drank shots, amid a crescendo of
laughter.
Then, barely discernible under the cheers
and the throbbing music, were the sounds
of what one reveler said sounded like
drumbeats punctuating the soundtrack.
Patron Christopher Hanson said at first
he thought the loud, rhythmic sounds
were part of the music "until you heard
too many shots. It was like, bang, bang,
bang, bang."
At some point, it dawned on him that the
"loud banging noises" were actually
"gunshots going off," Hanson said.
"I didn't see any of the actual shooters,"
he told CNN.
"I just saw bodies going down and I was
ordering a drink at the bar. I fell down. I
crawled out. People were trying to escape
out the back.
"I just know that when I hit the ground, I
was crawling and I hit my elbows and my
knees. When I got across the street, there
were people -- blood everywhere."