What to Know
- A gunman with an assault rifle and handgun opened fire inside a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday, killing at least 49.
- One victim is Kimberly "KJ" Morris, 37. The Torrington moved to Orlando just months ago and had taken a job at the nightclub as a bouncer.
- Learn more about the victims through their bios.
Kimberly “KJ” Morris, a Torrington native, had recently started working as a security guard at Pulse nightclub in Orlando and she was the only employee of the nightclub who was killed in the massacre early Sunday morning.
“She was kind of new. Only been with us, I think, about a month,” Barbara Poma, owner of Pulse nightclub, said during an exclusive interview on the "Today Show" with Matt Lauer. “She was really good. She was a good fit for our family.”
Poma fought back tears in the interview and said she created the club to honor her late brother, who was gay and died of HIV and complications. Her goal was to provide a safe haven for Orlando’s gay community.
Lauer asked about the name of the club and Poma said Pulse “has to do with your heartbeat. It has to do with your life and we just wanted to keep the heartbeat alive.”
Poma cannot stop imagining what horrors happened in her club this weekend, but she has to go back and never let hate win.
Local
A vigil will be held in Torrington tonight to remember Morris and the other shooting victims.
Morris, was a 1996 graduate of Torrington High School, where she played basketball all four years.
