ORLANDO, Fla. — Nine years since the Pulse nightclub terror attack, work now begins Monday to remove artifacts from inside the former nightclub — the first of many steps being taken as the city of Orlando spearheads efforts for a permanent memorial.
The facilities division will carefully remove items such as chandeliers, the bar top, posters and other interior items, and they will be taken to an environmentally controlled warehouse. That process is expected to take a while.
City officials said some items will be preserved and included in the memorial. However, they have not finalized which items they will use.
A full list of items being removed and stored can be found at pulseorlando.org.
What You Need To Know
Orlando Facilities Division workers will begin taking items from inside Pulse on Monday
Items such as chandeliers, the bar top and posters will be taken to an environmentally controlled warehouse
Site clearing, including the Pulse sign, is expected to start in March or April, according to city officials
Construction of the memorial is scheduled to begin in fall 2026
Orlando Facilities Division workers will begin removing items from inside the former Pulse nightclub on Monday so work can begin next year on a memorial to the victims who were shot at the site. (Spectrum News/Sarah Winkelmann)
Once the removal is complete, city workers will begin to remove the Pulse sign. Site clearing is expected to start in March or April, according to city officials.
Construction of the memorial is scheduled to begin in fall 2026, but there is a lot of work to be finished between now and then, city officials said.
“It’s going to be 10 years, what are we going to do? What are we going to have? Nothing yet, by now? They need to do this,” said survivor Jorshua Hernandez Carrion. “For me, it is better they demolish the site because it is going to be healing for us little by little,” added Hernandez Carrion, who still has a bullet in his side from that night 9.5 years ago. “But it is time to do the memorial.”
Orlando Facilities Division workers will begin removing items from inside the former Pulse nightclub on Monday so work can begin next year on a memorial to the victims who were shot at the site. (Spectrum News/Sarah Winkelmann)
Carrion said he plans to be back in the summer to mark 10 years since the tragedy and eventually when the memorial is completed, which is expected to be in late 2027.
On June 12, 2016, 49 people died and 53 others were injured when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire during a Latin night at the nightclub. At the time, it was the worst mass shooting in United States history. Mateen was shot dead in a gun battle with police just outside the popular gay nightclub.
Officials called the shooting a terrorist attack and Mateen called Spectrum News to say he did it for ISIS.
Since then, city and county leaders, survivors, victims’ families and other members of the community have gone through a protracted negotiation on the design plans and construction for a memorial to the victims.
Orlando Facilities Division workers will begin removing items from inside the former Pulse nightclub on Monday so work can begin next year on a memorial to the victims who were shot at the site. (Spectrum News/Sarah Winkelmann)