Kingdom leads condemnation as shaken Orlando deals with attack

WASHINGTON/ ORLANDO — Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was among the first few countries to condemn the Orlando shootings on Sunday which claimed 50 innocent lives. In an official statement on Sunday, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Abdullah Al-Saud said: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns in the strongest terms the attack on innocent people in Orlando, Florida, and sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims and to the people of the United States. We stand with the American people at this tragic time. We pray for the recovery and the healing of all those injured in the attack, and we will continue our work with the United States and our partners in the international community for an end to these senseless acts of violence and terror." Meanwhile, the people of Orlando grieved and remembered the dead after a gunman murdered 50 people at a gay nightclub in the Florida city, but there was also defiance in the face of tragedy. On Sunday evening many relatives kept anxious vigils at the bedsides of wounded loved ones at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Angel Colon emerged from the hospital thankful to have found his son Angel Jr., 26, alive and in stable condition despite three gunshot wounds, including a bullet that went through his thigh. Knocked to the ground by the bullets and with his leg broken, Angel was unable to flee Pulse, the popular nightspot that turned into a bloody shooting gallery just before closing time early Sunday. Colon said a girl fell to the ground next to his son, and they held hands as the gunman moved around the room methodically pumping bullets into people on the ground. “Then he shot the girl he was holding hands with,” Colon said. “It looks like she didn’t make it.” “When I saw him, I held him,” Colon said of his son. “I told him in Spanish, ‘Pai, God is giving you another chance’.” Earlier in the evening, authorities appeared before family members gathered at a hotel and read out the names of those hospitalized. Some in the audience broke down when they failed to hear the names of their loved ones, concluding they had died in the deadliest shooting attack in US history. At around the same time about 300 people gathered in El Calvario church not far from downtown Orlando to pray for the victims. Many were Hispanics, a reflection of the fact that Latinos were heavily represented among the dead and wounded. For about an hour they prayed and sang hymns, often with their hands raised toward the rafters as a violent downpour battered the city outside. But heavy rain did not discourage volunteers who lined up to give blood at mobile stations set up around the city. “At the central location there were thousands of people,” said Sonia Drudge after giving blood for the first time. “I was there at 11. It was a five-hour delay. I’ve never seen anything like this.” — AFP