Owner of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub vows: ‘I have to go back to that club’

Barbara Poma, together with her friend Ron Legler, founded the popular gay nightclub back in 2004 in loving memory of her older brother John, who lost his battle with AIDS in 1991.

In an emotional interview on NBC’s Today, Ms Poma explained she wanted to honour her late brother by giving back to the gay community in Orlando and creating a safe haven whe-re people could socialise and be themselves.

“It was a safe, fun place to come and be who you are, simple as that,” she told Today. “It was supposed to be a safe place.”

Ms Poma, one of the LGBT community’s biggest allies in Orlando, explained why she and her business partner chose the name, Pulse. “Because it has to do with your heartbeat, it has to do with your life and we just wanted to keep the heartbeat alive.”

Barbara Poma, owner of Pulse nightclub, has vowed to return to the club after Sunday’s mass shooting. Picture: NBCSource:Supplied

Armed with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire on the packed nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. 49 people were killed and 53 were seriously injured before SWAT members were able to breach the wall of the club whe-re the gunman was holding hostages — the largest loss of life due to a terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11. Mateen was fatally shot by police as he exited the building.

Among the 49 people who lost their lives was 37-year-old Kimberly Morris, a bouncer at Pulse who had moved to Orlando f-rom Hawaii two months ago to take care of her mother and grandmother. “She was really good, she was a good fit for our family,” Ms Poma said.

Kimberly “K.J” Morris, a bouncer at Pulse who was among the victims. Picture: FacebookSource:AP

Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, June 12. Picture: MySpaceSource:AP

Also among the victims was 22-year-old Juan Ramon Guerrero and his boyfriend, 32-year-old Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, who were reportedly planning to get married. Their families will now have a joint funeral service for the couple.

“They were honestly so in love. They were soulmates,” Mr Guerrero’s grieving sister told Time. “You can tell by how they looked at each other. It’s a little comforting that they died together.”

Mr Leinonen’s mother, Christine Leinonen, was one of many distraught family members who waited outside a local hospital for information after the shooting. She was informed on Monday afternoon that her son was among those killed.

Juan Ramon Guerrero (left) and Christopher “Drew” Leinonen were killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

Ms Poma said she learned of the attack via a frantic phone call f-rom the bar’s manager on Sunday morning. “It was the most surreal phone call I’ve ever received ... you can’t wrap your brain around that, you just can’t,” she said, through tears.

But the nightclub owner promised to return to Pulse, the bar which she originally opened to honour “one soul that was lost”.

“We just welcome those families into our family and we just have to move forward and find a way to keep their hearts beating and keep our spirit alive,” she said of those who have lost loved ones in the terror attack. “We’re not going to let someone take this away f-rom us.

“I have to go back to that club.”

On Monday, it emerged that Mateen had reportedly visited the gay nightclub at least 12 times prior to the massacre and had used a gay dating app within the last year. One regular at Pulse, Kevin West, said Mateen messaged him on and off for a year, but they never met up.

His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said she thought he might have been secretly gay. “He did feel very strongly about homosexuality,” Ms Yusufiy told CNN.

“When he had gotten married he had confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the night-life and there was a lot of pictures of him so … I feel like it’s a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn’t want everybody to know about.”

The Pulse nightclub will “always continue to be the heartbeat of Orlando,” Ms Poma vowed. “I will not let hate win.”

The attack, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism, has prompted an outpouring of reminiscence and reflection on the vital roles that such clubs have played for many lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people globally.

Zoe Feldman kneels in front of a makeshift memorial outside New York's Stonewall Inn, Monday, June 13, 2016 to remember the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando.Source:AP