A victim who survived the horrific mass shooting at a U.S. nightclub said Tuesday he feared for his life as he played dead after the assailant had already shot him in a hand and hip.
Angel Colon told a news conference at an Orlando, Florida, hospital that he thought, "I'm next, I'm dead."
But Colon said he faked his death early Sunday as the shooter, an American-born Muslim, Omar Saddiqui Mateen, continued his rampage at the Pulse gay bar and club.
"We were just having a great time, having a drink," said Colon, speaking in both English and Spanish as he sat in a wheelchair and described the chaotic scene at the club. "Out of nowhere we saw a big shotgun. Unfortunately, I was shot three times in my leg."
He said he fell to the floor and tried to get up but couldn't, left helpless with shattered bones.
Then, Colon said, "He shoots at my head, but hit my hand. ... All I could hear was people screaming, yelling for help."
He said a policeman eventually rescued him, dragging him across the floor littered with glass from the shooting spree, a rampage that terrorized the club for three hours before heavily armed police tactical units raided the club and killed Mateen in a shootout.
Colon voiced his lifelong gratitude to the policeman who saved him and the hospital's doctors and nurses who treated him.
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