From Inside the Orlando Shooting: Meet the Nursing Student Who Was There

Joshua McGill, a Nursing Student at Valencia College, was just like any other human being at Pulse nightclub on Jun 12th 2016. Little did he know, like anyone else, what was about to happen. 50 people died in the attack and 53 people were injured.
Joshua was in the smoking area in the back of the club when him and his friends heard shots being fired. “My friends and I were wondering if this was really happening, hearing shots inside the club.” The smoking area at the back of the club didn’t have an exit, so the terror set in. ” People were running and jumping over the gate because there was no other way out,” Joshua described.

At that point, everyone was running. There were screams, gunfire and blood, everywhere. Joshua hid under a car outside the club and noticed that someone had been shot. He rushed to help him. “I noticed he had been shot in his left arm, so I took my shirt off and tied it around the arm. Then I noticed he’d been shot in his other arm too, I told him to take his shirt off and I used that to tie around his other arm.” The victim had also been shot in the back.

When Police helped the two, they told Joshua to “he’s going to lie down in the back of the police car, and then you (Joshua) lie down on top of him and bear hug him applying all the pressure you can, and keep him conscious.”

“I didn’t know what to say to him.  I said that I don’t know if you’re religious but I’m going to say a prayer,” Joshua stated with tears filling up his eyes.

The Police then transported Joshua and the victim, known as Rodney to Orlando Regional.  Joshua hasn’t heard anything since.  “I don’t know what’s happened to him because I’m not family, they won’t tell me anything.”

Thank you to all the Nurses who helped in the wake of this terrible tragedy.