We’ve obtained new dispatch recordings that show why rescuers were forced to wait for hours a block away from the wounded trapped with the gunman inside the Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.
Tegna investigative reporter Brendan Keefe also discovered at one point, Orlando Regional Medical Center turned patients away, fearing the gunman had stormed the hospital.
“We’ve got some walking wounded,” a rescuer said on the radio.
“I have ballistic vests here for any of our individuals who are entering the red zone,” said someone from the command post on the radio.
Rescuers braved gunfire to evacuate the injured outside the Pulse nightclub, but dispatch recordings detail an agonizing 3-hour wait to help those trapped inside.
“We’re just waiting for OPD (Orlando PD) to clear the building in question for possibly more patients,” said the command post on the radio. “We’re being told possibly up to 15 remaining in the club that are barricaded in.”
The first to get help: victims in the parking lot and survivors in the club who somehow managed to escape the gunman.
“We’re told that there’s a couple that may be coming out as we speak,” the command post said on the radio.