A Survivor Of The Orlando Massacre That Shut The Door Trapping People Inside Feels Guilty About It

Metro- A survivor of the Orlando nightclub massacre last Sunday has spoken of the ‘guilt’ he feels for surviving after he shut a door on fellow victims while trying to escape. 

After hearing gunshots, Luis Burbano followed others through a staff door behind a curtain which led into a hallway and then to an exit. But he said when he got into the hallway it was dangerously crowded, with people crawling over one another trying to reach the outside.

He said he shut the inside door for 10 to 15 seconds despite people begging to get out, so others could reach the exit and make some space.

Since then, he says he has been unable to sleep feeling guilt instead of luck for making it out. ‘Until it happens to you one day, you never know how you’re going to react,’ he said.

‘Someone told me I got a second chance at life, and I say `Is that what this is?’ I regret it. I regret that second chance.’

Janiel Gonzalez, another survivor, told ABC News he was trying to get through the staff door into the hallway: ‘In a moment of desperation we were all crawling on the floor trying to find a place to exit.

‘Fifty people were trying to jump over each other trying to exit the place. There was a guy holding the door and not letting us exit. He’s like “Stay inside, stay inside.”

‘As he is saying that, the shooter keeps getting closer and closer and the sound of the bullets is getting closer,’ he said.

‘Everyone starts to panic. People are getting trampled. We’re shouting “Let us out, let us out!”




​Let me ask you a question Luis, do you feel better now having gotten that off your chest? Do you feel as though a weight has been lifted? Because I gotta be honest with you, I don't. In fact, I think my heart just grew a lot heavier. The fact that more people died than necessary for no other reason than pure, unfiltered selfishness actually makes me sick. Once again your greed showed through by telling the world this story. This isn't something the public needed to know, and the only reason we do is because you were too weak to die with it on your conscience like you are supposed to when you do something so stupid and self serving. 

You don't get sympathy. No one feels bad for the guy that showed no remorse for others just to make sure he, himself, stayed safe. You don't get to play the "you don't know how you'll react until it happens to you" card, because everyone with a brain and/or heart knows exactly how they would react. We are talking about letting innocent people escape to freedom, not rescuing a cat from a burning building. I would have ran away from that club like my feet were on fire, and I would have left the door swinging open while I did. I am not going to tell you I would risk my life to get other people out, but I certainly wouldn't ensure my life by disabling other people from getting out. You wanted this second chance so badly that you cost other people theirs so I hope it is spoiled by an undying sense of shame and regret, and I hope you are on the receiving end of less than no empathy.