June 27th, 2016
Jean Carlos Nieves Rodriguez, 27 years old.
A native of Puerto Rico, Jean bought his first home a month and a half ago because he wanted his mother to live somewhere nice. He had a long history of taking responsibility for his family. He started working at a McDonalds when he was fifteen, and he became a general manager within a few short years. More recently, he had become a manager at a check cashing store. One friend said, “He wanted to be the best at what he did, and he would work very hard to achieve that. So if he had to put in the long hours to get it right, he’d do it. If he had to stay to work a double [shift], he did it. That’s why whatever job he went to, he became a manager.”
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old.
Enrique worked as a social worker for the elderly in east Brooklyn while attending nursing school. He had gone to Orlando to spend the weekend celebrating a friend’s birthday. He was due to return home later that Sunday and was getting a last hour of dancing in at Pulse when the gunman opened fire. His mother, a janitor, told reporters before leaving for Olrando to bring her son home, “There’s always room for forgiveness, I’m not angry at the gunman, I’m not angry about the situation. I’m forever going to miss my son but I’ve been taught to believe that my son knew the Lord Jesus Christ and so I still have the hope that I’m going to see him again one day.”
Gerardo Ortiz-Jiminez, 25 years old.
Originally from the Dominican Republic, he had graduated high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was studying law at the Universidad del Éste in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He took jobs as an actor, dancer, and server at a cafe in San Juan. Friends described him as funny, humble, charismatic, and a huge Selina Gomez fan. Drake, as family and friends called him, had flown to Orlando from Puerto Rico to see Gomez in concert on Friday night. Just hours before going to Pulse, he went to a gym and posted photo of himself on Instagram.
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Mark B
June 27th, 2016
Thank you for these moving tributes to the beautiful young people who we so tragically taken fm us. My thoughts are with their families & friends.
Oggbert
June 27th, 2016
I second Mark B’s remarks.
djcoastermark
June 27th, 2016
And a third. Thank you for posting these tributes daily. I hope the survivors are doing well. They need our support also.
Lucrece
June 27th, 2016
Selena, not Selina ;p.
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