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Orlando Shooting Survivor Alejandro A. Francisco Writes Open Letter to Gunman Omar Mateen: ‘We Are Stronger Than Your Hate’

Orlando shooting survivor Alejandro A. Francisco.
Orlando shooting survivor Alejandro A. Francisco. Courtesy Alejandro A. Francisco

Alejandro A. Francisco, who survived the Orlando shooting at Pulse nightclub, penned an open letter to gunman Omar Mateen. The New Jersey native grew up in Orlando and often partied at the popular gay club.

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“I love my friends, I love my parents, I’m half Puerto Rican, half Dominican, 21 years old, and at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, you almost took my life,” Francisco wrote in the letter, which was posted by xoJane on Monday, June 13. “I go to Pulse nightclub in Orlando because I feel comfortable there, and I can be myself. Several of my friends were there that night, including my friend Stanley. I will never see Stanley again. You took that away from me.” (Stanley Almodovar III was a 23-year-old pharmacy technician, originally from Springfield, Massachusetts.)

Vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting
People hold candles during a vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando on June 13, 2016. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Francisco left Pulse just moments before the mass shooting began. “Across the street, moments after we left, we heard the gunshots start. They sounded like firecrackers,” he recalled. “We were terrified. We saw people running all around us, some of them jumping fences. We had no idea the all-consuming nightmare we narrowly escaped inside.”

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Francisco doesn’t want the tragedy to be called the deadliest attack on U.S. soil, however. Instead, he considers it “the worst attack — on love — on U.S. soil.” He then listed all of the victims’ first names.

As previously reported, Mateen, 29, shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others on Sunday. He was later killed by authorities. On Monday, his ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, claimed in a new interview that he had “homosexual tendencies.”

“These men and women were strangers to you. All of them had one precious gift, one saving grace that you could never, ever have. That much is clear. I know you had a child and a wife and a father and a mother, but you did not have what they had. You never could have. What happened never could have happened if you did,” Francisco wrote. “But Omar, you failed. You tried to massacre the very one thing that you can never destroy in our community. Ever. You can not take away our love. It is more powerful than anything else that exists in the world.”

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Francisco revealed that he was made fun of for his sexuality in middle school, but that his mom was always supportive. “Omar, we are stronger than your hate,” he wrote. “We always will be.”

Francisco’s moving letter mirrors a sonnet that Lin-Manuel Miranda read during the 2016 Tony Awards on Sunday. The Broadway star reflected on the Orlando tragedy while accepting the award for Best Original Score for Hamilton.

“When senseless acts of tragedy remind us / That nothing here is promised, not one day,” he said through tears. “We rise and fall and light from dying embers / Remembrances that hope and love last longer / And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love / Cannot be killed or swept aside.” The meaningful words have since been shared by many on social media.

Read Francisco’s letter in full here.

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