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New photo from Pulse shooting shows exit blocked by refrigerator, which may have cost lives

Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Orlando police officers seen outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida.

Survivors and family want accountability for what they have said were code violations that may have led to more deaths in the 2016 gay nightclub shooting.

New photo evidence allegedly fromthe 2016 Pulse shooting in Orlando sparked fresh outrage about whether the gay nightclub followed regulations to allow a safe exit in the event of an emergency.

Zach Blair, an advocate withVictims First who has fought for public records involving the club shooting, received a new photo from the city that shows a refrigerator blocking exit doors from one of Pulse’s kitchenette areas. He provided the image to media outlets, including The Advocate, and believes the revelations captured in the shot should be part of new civil and even criminal investigations of the city and club ownership.

"This is corruption," Blair said.

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen killed 49 people and was holed up in the club for hours in a standoff with law enforcement before ultimately being killed by police. Countless other survivors escaped the club after shots were fired, while others remained inside the building for the entire standoff. The shooting is the deadliest targeted attack on LGBTQ+ people in U.S. history.

The photo is the first that shows a refrigerator blocking the exit from the room behind Pulse’s main bar, though text messages released shortly after the 2016 shooting included one from Orlando Fire Marshall Tammy Hughes describing a similar scene. Blair said the city has fought him for five years as he sought out photos showing the poor navigability of the club, which could have compromised both rescue and escape attempts the night of the tragedy.

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“Code enforcement is here. showed me a picture where the club owner had blocked the exit with a coke machine. he has pictures,” Hughes texted Orlando Fire Chief Roderick Williams after the shooting.

Survivor Jose Diaz Ubiles once told media that shooting victim Luis Omar Ocasio Capo died in his arms in the room pictured, according to local NBC affiliate WESH. Ubiles has said for years that he and Capo were trapped in the room pictured and that he tried but could not move the refrigerator to clear the exit and escape.

Capo’s mother, Carmen, told the outlet she believes her son could have been saved if the exit had not been blocked.

Chris Hansen, a survivor of the attack, said the fact that new revelations around the shooting continue to come out is an outrage in itself.

"I would imagine we, as survivors, our families, families of our 49, our first responders, residents within the surrounding neighborhoods, others affected within the community, and those throughout the world who mourned with us who paid tribute to a memorial that still hasn't been built due to the corruption, lies, deceit, and hidden secrets of the Pulse Night Club Massacre," he told The Advocate. "Nearly a decade later and, finally, we get to see a few of the censored, uncropped photos of the aftermath that were left out of the original media releases. Survivors told their stories, but couldn't see the full extent of the area they were trapped in because of missing photos and footage that was claimed to have not existed."

refrigerator blocking exit in Pulse nightclub City of Orlando

Orlando Torres, another survivor of the shooting, was trapped in a bathroom for three and a half hours. While he could not have exited out the door blocked by the refrigerator, he said it is heartbreaking to him that others may have been able to escape.

“Every second counts to save lives [when trying] to get away from a mass shooting, and if that hampered the safety and the lives of any of those that were trying to exit out, it's unfortunate, and it's illegal,” Torres said.

Orlando State Attorney Monique Worrell released a statement promising to investigate further.

“Due to the tremendous impact the Pulse tragedy had on our community, our office will further review this matter to determine the need for additional investigation into any potential criminal violations identified and the appropriate law enforcement agency that we recommend to conduct that investigation,” the statement reads.

But Orlando officials also noted that several investigations and lawsuits have already unfolded in the nearly nine years since the shooting occurred.

Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, Florida’s longest-serving out elected official, said she inquired years ago whether various building obstructions and security issues would make club owners legally culpable. More have demanded answers since OnePulse Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Pulse owner Barbara Poma, dissolved and nixed plans for a museum at the site of the shooting.

But investigators from the FBI and Orlando Police ultimately determined the only person criminally responsible for the murders was the shooter.

image from pulse nightclub with refrigerator blocking an exit City of Orlando

“I understand the group is upset and angry, and they want Barbara Poma to pay,” Sheehan said. “I’m not a huge fan after what she did with that money. But either avenue (federal or state charges) doesn’t give a way to give recourse.”

Blair said it was Sheehan who first suggested he look at problems with navigating the club, though he now feels she had been more focused on shielding the city from liability.

The city has defended withholding photos until now.

"At all points since the Pulse tragedy, Florida law has prohibited the release of photographs or video which depict the body of any victim killed in an incident of mass violence and has provided that it is a felony for any custodian of such records to willfully and knowingly provide photos or videos depicting such bodies except as permitted in narrowly defined circumstances that are set forth in the statute," the city said in a statement provided to WESH after the Orlando station published the refrigerator photo.

"Certain photographs and videos were not previously posted to the City’s Pulse tragedy records website because they depict bodies or large quantities of the blood of victims killed during the Pulse tragedy."

Blair told The Advocate he found that laughable and noted many previously available photos showed the blood of victims.

The failure to disclose information hasn’t stopped the group Pulse Families and Survivors for Justice from demanding more action. That organization criticized the city for sitting on the newly released photograph for years.

“A judge and jury should determine the legal consequences now that we have a clearer picture of the conditions at PULSE, in spite of the City’s continued efforts to conceal the facts and confuse the public,” the group said in a statement provided to The Advocate. “We need to start with a comprehensive investigation, which has not yet been done regarding the unpermitted renovations and code violations at PULSE that hindered escape and rescue. The nightclub’s owners and the city need to be held accountable for their roles in this tragedy.”