Two Massachusetts Natives Killed in Orlando Shooting
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Two victims of Sunday’s Orlando nightclub massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, were Massachusetts natives.
Stanley Almodovar III, 23, was a pharmacy technician born and raised in Springfield. “He was a good kid growing up, so happy and outgoing. His mom moved him and his siblings to Florida in hopes for a better future for them,” Almodovar’s uncle, Reginald Cole, told WCVB.
Almodovar’s mother, Rosalie Ramos, thought he would come home from the Pulse nightclub hungry, so she made some tomato and cheese dip and left it in the fridge. She awoke to a frantic phone call at 2 a.m., telling her to get over to the Pulse nightclub immediately. Almodovar was shot three times in the chest, stomach, and side, and died at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
“I was hoping maybe [he was shot in] the hand or the leg,” Ramos told the Orlando Sentinel. “You can survive [a gunshot to] the leg.”
Kimberly “KJ” Morris, 37, was working the door the night of the shooting. The Connecticut woman had just moved to Orlando two months earlier, after spending time in Northampton. A former basketball player for Post University in Waterbury, Morris was reportedly a member of the Western Massachusetts Imperial Court, a chapter of a national philanthropic and social club for LQBTQ+ people.
“She was so excited. She’d just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there,” Morris’ ex-girlfriend, Starr Shelton, told the Sentinel. “She was such a great person and so full of life,” Shelton said. “I can truly say heaven has gained an angel.”
A vigil will be held in Boston’s City Hall Plaza at 6 p.m. Monday. Mayor Marty Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker are among those expected to attend. A full, updating list of the victims of the Pulse shooting is available here.
