ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on the third anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting (all times local):
5:40 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife have laid flowers at the gay nightclub where 49 club-goers were massacred three years ago on “Latin night.”
DeSantis and his wife, Casey, visited the now-shuttered Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Wednesday on the third anniversary of the worst attack on gay people in the U.S.
DeSantis’ visit came several hours after he was criticized for issuing a proclamation marking the anniversary that initially made no mention of the gay or Hispanic communities.
DeSantis’ office later issued a “corrected” proclamation that said Florida wouldn’t tolerate hate toward the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.
When asked about the initial omission in Jacksonville, DeSantis said he wasn’t initially involved with the proclamation but asked that it be fixed when the oversight was brought to his attention.
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4:10 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he told his staff to fix the omission when he found out a proclamation marking the third anniversary of a massacre at a gay nightclub on “Latin night” made no mention of the gay and Hispanic communities.
DeSantis says he wasn’t initially involved with the proclamation, when asked about it Wednesday at a bill signing in Jacksonville. DeSantis says the problem was resolved when his office re-issued the proclamation, this time mentioning the gay and Hispanic communities.
The Republican governor was criticized by a Democratic state lawmaker and others for the omission in the original proclamation.
Forty-nine club-goers were killed in the 2016 massacre.
DeSantis planned to visit the Pulse nightclub in Orlando later Wednesday.
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1:15 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has re-issued a proclamation marking the third anniversary of a massacre at a gay nightclub on Latin night, this time mentioning the gay and Hispanic communities.
The Republican governor on Wednesday issued what his office called a “corrected” version of the proclamation remembering the 49 people who were killed at the Pulse nightclub in June 2016.
DeSantis was criticized by a Democratic state lawmaker and others for omitting any mention of the gay or Hispanic communities in the original proclamation.
His communications director says in an email that staff members made in an error in the previous proclamation. She says the governor directed a reissue of the proclamation to mention the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.
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10:55 a.m.
Floridians and others around the world are remembering the three-year anniversary of a massacre at a gay nightclub on Latin night that left 49 people dead.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation for Wednesday ordering state flags to be lowered to half-staff and asking Floridians to pause to remember the victims of the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani criticized the Republican governor for not mentioning in the proclamation that the attack was on the gay community.
DeSantis later tweeted that the state mourned the loss of life from the attack that “targeted the LGBTQ and Hispanic community, and Florida as a whole.”
Gunman Omar Mateen was killed after a three-hour standoff by SWAT team members. He had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
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