Orlando Shooting Latest: 'I'm Thinking I'm Next. I'm Dead'

ORLANDO, Fla. — The first of 53 survivors spoke publicly Tuesday after the mass shooting June 12 at a gay nightclub in Orlando left 49 victims dead, along with the shooter, Omar Mateen.

Angel Colon was shot "about three times" in the leg, then was shot again in the hand and hip when the shooter doubled back.

"He's shooting everyone who's already dead on the floor, making sure they're dead," Colon said. "I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. I'm just there laying down, I'm thinking 'I'm next, I'm dead.'"

It was around 2 a.m. on Sunday when Orlando Regional Medical Center received notice of gunshot victims coming in. At first a few patients trickled in and then it was five. Before long, they “started lining up in the hallway,” said Dr. Kathryn Bondani on Tuesday.“They were being dropped off in truckloads and ambulance loads.”

Investigators are now following up on tips from witnesses in Orlando's gay community that Mateen, 29, had visited the Pulse nightclub prior to the shooting.

Authorities tell CNN that Mateen was also at Walt Disney World during the park's annual Gay Days celebrations. They believe the visits were intended to surveil the locations, according to an unnamed source.

Mateen's wife has reportedly told authorities that she tried to talk her husband out of the shooting, according to NBC News. She is cooperating with investigators, but may face charges for not coming forward before the attack.

Tuesday afternoon, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said that his officer first alerted the FBI about Mateen in 2013 after the man made "inflammatory comments" when serving as a contracted security guard at the county courthouse. Federal investigators interviewed Mateen, but eventually closed the case.

In comments Tuesday, President Obama called the shooter an "angry, unstable man who became radicalized," but he said there was no evidence a foreign terrorist group was involved.

See also:

• Orlando Shooting Victims Arrived In 'Truckloads And Ambulance Loads:' Doctor
• Orlando Shooting: First Victim Speaks

Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to meet with survivors, first responders and LGBT community members. The president will pay his respects to victims' families, "and to stand in solidarity with the community as they embark on the recovery," according to a White House Statement.

The full list of fatal victims has been released. They include Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, who died with his boyfriend of two years. “If it’s not a funeral, they were going to have a wedding together,” Guerrero's sister told Time Magazine. 

They also included Luis S. Vielma, a 22-year-old employee at Universal Studio's Harry Potter attractions. Author J.K. Rowling shared her condolences on social media.

• All 49 Orlando Shooting Victims' Names Released
• New Jersey LGBT Advocates: Orlando Shooting Won’t Stop Our Pride Celebration

Annual gay pride celebrations will continue across the country this month. New Jersey's LGBT leaders announced that a scheduled event Thursday will go ahead as planned.

"We know that the goal of those who hate us is to terrorize us, to force us into hiding, to stop us from dancing, to silence us with shame and fear," read a statement. "To that, we say: not now, not ever."

More than $3 million has poured into Equality Florida’s campaign to raise money for the victims of the attack. GoFundMe has pledged $100,000 towards this campaign — essentially waiving the standard transaction fee.

Since the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization kicked off its fundraising effort in the hours after the mass shooting, more than 70,000 people from around the world have made donations, some as small as $10, others in the thousands.

See also:

• Fundraiser For Orlando Shooting Victims Tops $3 Million

Impassioned pleas for gun reform continue after ther shootings — Mateen had legally purchased a handgun and an AR-style assault rifle days before the killing, even though he had previously been interviewed by the FBI over terror concerns.

A Connecticut congressman,  Rep. Jim Himes, walked out on a moment of silence in the U.S. House on Monday. The Democrat said he will not attend moments of silence for mass shooting victims any more.

"Silence, that is how the leadership of the most powerful country in the world will respond to this week's massacre of its citizens," he said.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has also been vocal about the lack of Congressional action.

"This phenomenon of near constant mass shootings happens only in America – nowhere else," he said. "Congress has become complicit in these murders by its total, unconscionable deafening silence."

As support for a ban on assault rifles gains attention, sales of assault rifles is exploding, according to gun shop owners.

Adventure Outdoors store owner Jay Wallace told Atlanta's ABC affiliate that 35 AR-15s were sold within three hours, a rate of about 10 guns per hour.

“There’s one that’s buying them for an investment and the other one is the person that’s buying them because they’re afraid they won’t be available; they’re afraid the government is going to take them away,” store owner Jay Wallace said.

See also:

• Rep. Jim Himes Protests 'Smug' Moment of Silence for Orlando
• Orlando Shooting: AR-15 Sales Rising as Calls for Bans Increase

Patch photo courtesy of Kathryn Szoka