Orlando attack: Survivor says gunman shot victims as they lay on floor to 'make sure they were dead'

Angel Colon said he lay on the floor and played dead as shots rang out around him

Angel Colon said he lay on the floor and pretended to be dead (YouTube)

A survivor of the Orlando shooting has told how the gunman walked through the club shooting people a second time to “make sure they were dead”.

Seated in a wheelchair and his voice at times breaking with emotion, Angel Colon said he thought he too would be killed as Omar Mateen took aim at him. “I’m next, I’m dead,” said Mr Colon, speaking at a press conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Centre.

The 26-year-old said he was set to leave the Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday having enjoyed himself with his friends. “It was a great night, no drama, just smiles,” he said.

Nicole Edwards and her wife Kellie Edwards observe a moment of silence during a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the mass shooting victims at the Pulse nightclub June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. (Getty)

And then, in an instant, came the sound of shooting that simply “kept going”.

Mr Colon said he was shot several times in the leg. He tried to get up from the floor to run, was was unable to do so. Instead, he lay there, trying to remain still and avoid the attention of the killer.

“All I could do was lay down there while everyone was running on top of me, trying to get to where they had to be. All I could hear was the shots. One after another. People screaming. People yelling for help,” he said.

He added: “I hear him come back and he’s shooting everyone that’s already dead on the floor, making sure they are dead. I was able to peek over, and I can just see him shooting at everyone. I can hear the shots [getting] closer.”

Mr Godden said some of those he lay among were also playing dead. Others had actually been shot (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

The young man was one of several survivors who have shared remarkable stories of survival after 29-year-old Mateen stormed the Pulse club with a semi-automatic rifle and a hand gun, killing 49 people and injuring more than 40 others. On Monday, another survivor, Marcus Godden, told The Independent he also lay on the floor and played dead, along with other clubbers, such as Mr Colon.

“I can still see the gunshots, my ears are still ringing, I can hear the shooting,” he said.

Mr Colon said the gunman shot a woman next to him and then shot his hand and his hip. He says he pretended to be dead and the gunman kept firing his gun.

“I just there laying down, I’m thinking, ‘I’m next, I’m dead’,” Mr Colon said. “I don’t know how, but by the glory of God, he shoots toward my head but it hits my hand. And he shoots me again and hits the side of my hip.”

(AFP/Getty Images)

Mr Colon said he was eventually able to escape when Mateen was confronted by armed police at the front of the club. An officer, who was able to enter a breach that SWAT teams made in the building, grabbed his hand.

“And he's like, ‘This is the only way I can take you out’. I'm like, ‘Please carry me. I’m in pain right now’. I couldn't walk or anything,” he said. “So he starts to drag me out across the street to a Wendy’s, and I'm grateful for him, but the floor is just covered in glass.

He added: “So he’s dragging me out while I’m just getting cut. My behind. My back. My legs. I don’t feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me, from myself, from other people. And he just drops me off across the street.”

Another survivor told reporters how people had taken cover in the lavatories of the club in central Orlando. People had been in the toilets when sound of gunfire broke out.

One of the survivors, also speaking at the hospital, said: “Someone said ‘Everybody be quiet’, and then the blasts came through the stalls.”