'Bloody Bodies, Screams & Gunshots!' Orlando Survivor Relives Massacre
Jun. 14 2016, Published 9:40 a.m. ET
The horrifying bloodbath that occurred on Sunday morning inside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, has left dozens dead and maimed. However, as innocent victims were being gunned down by the shooter, 28-year-old club goer Yaritza Matos told RadarOnline.com exclusively how she helped others escape! Click through nine images to learn her terrifying tale of survival and heroism in the face of unthinkable tragedy.
"I went alone to the club that night. It was my first time to Pulse. It was big and everyone was having a great time the music was perfect. I had a few drinks and was dancing and the crowd was awesome. So much good energy. I told my girls that I would be right back, and that I was going to the ladies room. On my way there, I heard the first gunshots," said Matos, 28.
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"I thought that it was someone driving by. Then they get louder and closer and louder and I couldn't hear anything else. I turned around as I was almost at the restroom. What I saw was so awful," Matos, the mother of a son and daughter, told Radar.
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"Glasses flying. People screaming. Bodies dropping... Everyone was screaming. I started panicking. I didn't know what to do. People were stepping on top of each other trampling people. The bathroom was so small there were only two stalls. It was right inside the patio door. Everyone in the patio was hiding under the table covers. Everyone was so scared. It was the worst experience of my life," she recounted.
Matos told Radar, "I was hiding under the table with another man. I don't know who he was. I looked at him and said, 'We need to get out of here.' I am 5'9 and there is a 6 foot wall on the patio. I threw him over the wall and then I jumped after he was safe on the other side. I had superhuman strength!"
Los Angeles Times
"I went around to the side of the building and started to help people immediately. I was applying pressure to wounds. I was doing whatever I could until the cops got there," said Matos.
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Matos – who said that she is 'so grateful to be alive' – said, "I have a girlfriend that was texting with her sister inside. She told her she was going to die. She told her that he was shooting people laying down on the floor. The killer kept telling everyone that 'I am not leaving until you all are dead.'"
Aftermath of Orlando nightclub shooting
"He meant it. He was going to kill everyone there because that is what he came there to do," said Matos – referring to the cold-blooded killer, Omar Mateen.
"There were so many people outside bleeding. There was just so much blood it was not even real. I think that everyone who made it outside probably survived. Those inside most likely died. It is so horrible. It was hell on earth."
Leave your thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families.