{"id":191126,"date":"2026-03-14T04:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/191126\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T04:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:32:08","slug":"orlando-begins-demolition-of-pulse-nightclub-site-of-2016-mass-shooting-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/191126\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando begins demolition of Pulse nightclub, site of 2016 mass shooting | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Orlando<\/p>\n

A construction worker lifted by an aerial platform to the top of the Pulse nightclub sign during the afternoon,\u00a0a day before its removal. The sign was removed ahead of the nightclub’s demolition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juno Le<\/p>\n

The City of Orlando removed the sign of the Pulse nightclub Wednesday, where a UCF student and alumnus were killed during a mass shooting in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UCF student Juan Ramon Guerrero<\/a> and UCF alumnus Christopher Andrew Leinonen<\/a>, both pictured in the mural outside the Student Union<\/a>, were among the 49 people who lost their lives during the shooting. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, according to Pulse Orlando<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the past nine years, the site of Pulse \u2014 an LGBTQ+ nightclub \u2014 has become a place for the loved ones of the victims to\u00a0leave\u00a0artifacts<\/a>\u00a0such as pictures, flowers and signs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bottom panels of the sign, which were covered in signatures and handwritten messages, were removed on Tuesday. The top part of the sign, where the club\u2019s name was written, was removed and securely stored Wednesday morning, according to the City of Orlando<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two-day sign removal process comes ahead of the city’s plans to demolish the building on March 18. A memorial<\/a> to preserve the space and honor those who were killed in the shooting is set to be built in its place. The project has \u201creached the 30 percent design benchmark,\u201d according to the City of Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City of Orlando plans to work closely with survivors and family members through a Memorial Engagement Process to design a memorial that reflects their desire for a place of solemn reflection that honors and pays tribute to the 49 angels and serves as a place where the victims\u2019 families, survivors, first responders and our community can go to honor, unite and remember this heartbreaking moment in our city\u2019s and our nation\u2019s history, while also serving as a reminder to the world that Orlando is and always will be an inclusive community where every person is welcomed,\u201d a statement on Pulse Orlando\u2019s memorial webpage reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the month-long construction, in which a construction fence will line the property, there will be a small area where the community can leave perishable items, such as flowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A construction worker lifted by an aerial platform to the top of the Pulse nightclub sign during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,139,141,140,99],"class_list":["post-191126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}