{"id":196402,"date":"2026-03-18T14:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/196402\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T14:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:26:07","slug":"pulse-nightclub-demolition-underway-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/196402\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulse Nightclub demolition underway in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demolition crews began tearing down the Pulse nightclub in Orlando<\/a>, Florida<\/a>, on Wednesday, as a survivor of the 2016 mass shooting stood nearby and streamed the moment in real time.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ<\/a>+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Orlando Torres, who survived the attack that killed 49 people, narrated the scene as excavators clawed into the building\u2019s walls, sending debris cascading inward. As the structure came apart, Torres revisited the night he spent trapped inside a bathroom with other patrons, his account moving between observation and memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re hoping this is for the better, finally. Long overdue. Looking forward to moving on and having peace and tranquility where we can pray inside,\u201d Torres said during the morning livestream around 9:15 a.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

Related: Pulse nightclub demolition set for March to make way for memorial<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Orlando tears down \u2018horrific\u2019 Pulse sign. Survivor Brandon Wolf says it once meant safety<\/a><\/p>\n

He described the fear that the gunman would execute those hiding on the floor, the concussive blasts that echoed through the building, and the moment law enforcement breached the wall. Water poured over him as pipes ruptured. \u201cI thought I was going to drown. I couldn\u2019t breathe,\u201d he said, recalling how he struggled for air while pinned in place.<\/p>\n

Torres said he remained immobilized after hours on his side, unable to respond when officers urged him to move. \u201cPush yourself up,\u201d they told him, he recalled. \u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d Officers ultimately pulled him through a hole in the wall to safety.<\/p>\n

For nearly a decade, the Pulse building has stood as both crime scene and shrine, a physical site where grief settled into ritual after what was then the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Visitors left flowers, photographs, and handwritten notes along its perimeter, transforming the nightclub into a place of pilgrimage even as official plans for a permanent memorial faltered.<\/p>\n

Related: New photo from Pulse shooting shows exit blocked by refrigerator, which may have cost lives<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Brandon Wolf won\u2019t return to Orlando\u2019s Pulse nightclub where he survived the murder of friends who never left<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>The demolition follows a symbolic step taken last week, when the club\u2019s iconic sign was removed. Pulse survivor and advocate Brandon Wolf, who serves as national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign<\/a>, described the sign as something that once represented safety and pride for him, a \u201cphysical monument to community,\u201d before it became inseparable from the trauma of the attack.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demolition crews began tearing down the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, as a survivor of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72225,28,32703,139,141,140,91114,8309,16956],"class_list":["post-196402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-brandon-wolf","tag-florida","tag-human-rights-campaign","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-torres","tag-pulse-nightclub","tag-pulse-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196402","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=196402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}