Orlando nightclub mass shooting victims

A gunman killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history on June 12, 2016. The names of the victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 50, have now been released.

Eddie Sotomayor Jr., 34, was among those killed in the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Sotomayor was a caring, energetic man known for wearing a silly top hat on cruises, said David Sotomayor, who identified himself as the victim's cousin.

David Sotomayor, who lives in Chicago, told The Associated Press Sunday that Edward worked for a company that held gay cruises and often traveled to promote the company's events.

"He was just always part of the fun," David Sotomayor said.

Stanley Almodovar III

Stanley Almodovar III - 23

The mother of Stanley Almodovar III had prepared a tomato-and-cheese dip for him to eat when he came home from his night out.

Instead, Rosalie Ramos was awakened by a call at 2 a.m. Sunday telling her something had happened.

Ramos told the Orlando Sentinel her son, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician, posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to Pulse nightclub.

"I wish I had that (video) to remember him forever," she told the newspaper.

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo - 20

Ocasio-Capo wanted to be a star. The 20-year-old dancer was working at Starbucks inside a Kissimmee Target store while studying theater, and would have auditioned on Tuesday for a play, said his sister, Belinette Ocasio-Capo.

"He was one of the most amazing dancers," she said. "He would always call me and say, 'I'm going to be the next Hollywood star.' He really did want to make it and be known.

Juan Ramon Guerrero

Juan Ramon Guerrero - 22

Guerrero had told his cousin Robert Guerrero, that he was gay about two years ago but he was worried about how the rest of his family would react so he did not tell them until just before the beginning of this year. And when he did? "They were very accepting," said Guerrero, 19. "As long as he was happy, they were OK with it."

Guerrero worked as a telemarketer, according to his cousin. He also had recently started attending college at the University of Central Florida. He was happy in a relationship with a person his relatives came to regard as a member of the family, Robert said.

"He was always this amazing person (and) he was like a big brother to me," he said of his cousin. "He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew."

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera - 36

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz - 22

Gonzalez-Cruz, who worked for UPS, was known among family and friends as "Ommy." He was always the life of the party, according to his aunt, Sonia Cruz.

Gonzalez-Cruz went to Pulse on Saturday night with his best friend, 25-year-old Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez. After news of the mass shooting emerged his aunt said she held out hope for hours that her nephew would turn up in a hospital bed.

But late Sunday afternoon, she was told he was among those killed at the club.

Luis S. Vielma

Luis S. Vielma - 22

On Sunday evening, June 12, 2016, J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, tweeted that Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal, "I can't stop crying."

Kimberly Morris

Kimberly Morris - 37

Morris moved to Orlando just a few months ago and had taken a job at Pulse nightclub as a bouncer, the Orlando Sentinel reported. "She was so excited," ex-girlfriend Starr Shelton told the newspaper. "She'd just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there," Shelton said.

Darryl Roman Burt II

Darryl Roman Burt II - 29

Anthony Luis Laureano Disla

Anthony Luis Laureano Disla - 25

He started dancing at the age of 10 and was comfortable with any number of styles, from salsa to ballroom, his cousin Ana Figueroa said. Born in Puerto Rico, Disla moved to Orlando three years ago.

Figueroa told the Orlando Sentinel that he had texted her Saturday inviting her out for a night of dancing at Pulse nightclub. She responded that she was too tired.

He was out with two roommates, both of whom were injured in the shooting, she said. The newspaper did not identify the roommates.

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez - 35

Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez

Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez - 50

Amanda Alvear

Amanda Alvear - 25

Alvear was at Pulse with her best friend Mercedez Marisol Flores. Both women were killed.

Martin Benitez Torres

Martin Benitez Torres - 33

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon who was known as "Lestat Wilson" - 37

Wilson-Leon went by Dani. He barely spoke English when he moved from Puerto Rico to Florida in 2004, but he learned in six months, got a job at a store that sells fragrances and quickly rose through the ranks, according to his cousin, Laly Santiago-Leon.

Wilson-Leon's partner of six years, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, was also killed in the attack.

Mercedez Marisol Flores

Mercedez Marisol Flores - 26

Flores went to Pulse nightclub almost every weekend, Flores' sister-in-law said Monday, often with her best friend Amanda Alvear. Both women died in the shooting.

Born in Queens, New York, the 26-year-old Flores moved to Florida when she was a child, her sister-in-law said. She worked at Target and studied at Valencia College, a local community college. She wanted to become a party planner so she could coordinate events with her two older brothers, who are both DJs.

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosad

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado - 35

According to the Orlando Sentinel, worked at the Aldo show store chain and had been switched to retail for better hours for parenting his 5-year-old son. He enjoyed salsa dancing and performed at local theme parks, including Walt Disney World.

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez - 25

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez - 31

Oscar A. Aracena-Montero

Oscar A. Aracena-Montero - 26

Enrique L. Rios, Jr.

Enrique L. Rios, Jr. - 25

Rios' Facebook page says he worked with a home health care agency and his mother said he had a heart for helping the elderly. He transferred to St. Francis College in Brooklyn last year where he was studying social work. He was in Orlando to celebrate a friend's birthday.

Gertrude Merced says that even though her heart is broken at the death of her 25-year-old son Enrique Rios, she has already forgiven the gunman.

Miguel Angel Honorato

Miguel Angel Honorato - 30

Honorato was a father of three, among them a one and two-year-old, 30-year-old. He managed four restaurants in central Florida along with a catering business on the side and was always the one to drop everything to help out his family, which included seven siblings.

Javier Jorge-Reyes

Javier Jorge-Reyes - 40

Jason Benjamin Josaphat

Jason Benjamin Josaphat - 19

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez - 37

Luis Daniel Conde

Luis Daniel Conde - 39

Shane Evan Tomlinson

Shane Evan Tomlinson - 33

Singing was Shane Tomlinson's passion. He had just performed as the lead vocalist with "The Frequency Band" on Saturday night at Blue Martini club before going to Pulse, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He was a vibrant and charismatic lead vocalist for the band, performing at night clubs and weddings in the Orlando area.

Leroy Valentin Fernandez

Leroy Valentin Fernandez - 25

Fernandez had recently found a job as a leasing agent for an Orlando apartment complex, according to his friend, Jennifer Rodriguez. "He had finally found something he liked. He was taking care of his mom," she said.

Fernandez, 25, recently had been dating an older man, a dancer known by the stage name Eman Valentino. That dancer was Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35, who also died and left behind a young son who had graduated from pre-kindergarten earlier this month.

List of victims: Orlando nightclub shooting victims' names released

Tevin Eugene Crosby

Tevin Eugene Crosby - 25

Tevin Eugene Crosby's inspirational posts on Facebook - "2016 will be the best year ever" - represented his drive for success.

Crosby was director of operations for a Michigan marketing firm. He recently visited his family in Statesville, North Carolina, to watch several nieces and nephews graduate. Then he traveled to Orlando. He loved to travel for work and fun, Chavis Crosby said.

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega (also known as Jonathan Camuy) - 24

Vega moved to Central Florida from his native Puerto Rico to work for the Spanish-language television network Telemundo. He was on the production team for "La Voz Kids," a talent show for young singers in its fourth season. He had previously worked for the network in Puerto Rico.

"Jonathan was an extremely hard-working individual, full of life, enthusiastic and with a great personality," the network said in a statement. "He will be missed dearly."

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala - 33

Angel L. Candelario-Padro

Angel L. Candelario-Padro - 28

Candelario-Padro moved to Orlando from Chicago in January to be closer to family.

The 28-year-old nurse from Guanica, Puerto Rico, who served in the National Guard, soon found a new job and a new love.

"He was a humble boy, a good student. He liked to work and wasn't too much into partying," his aunt Leticia Padro told Univision.

But he made an exception Saturday night, when he and his boyfriend went to Pulse with friends. The boyfriend was shot several times and is in the hospital.

Minutes before the shooting, Candelario-Padro had posted a photo on Facebook that showed him smiling broadly while standing next to his boyfriend and two friends

Frank Hernandez

Frank Hernandez - 27

Antonio Davon Brown

Antonio Davon Brown - 29

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz - 32

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool - 49

The Brooklyn native Brenda McCool reportedly died protecting one of her 11 children from the gunman.

The 49-year-old was at Pulse the night of the shooting simply because she loved going out dancing with her gay son. She told Isaiah Henderson to get down when she saw the gunman turn towards them, and shielded him from the bullets that followed.

Friends and relatives say McCool survived two separate bouts of cancer.

Christopher Andrew Leinonen

Christopher Andrew Leinonen - 32

Leinonen had gone to the club with his friend Brandon Wolf when the shooting started, his mother Christine said. Wolf texted that a shooting occurred and that her son was missing. His death was confirmed Monday, June 13. Wolf had survived by hiding in a bathroom and running out as the bullets flew.

Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez

Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez -25

Deonka Deidra Drayton

Deonka Deidra Drayton - 32

Drayton also was known as Deon Hayward on Facebook.

Drayton lived in Orlando, but used to live in Columbia, South Carolina.

Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez

Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez - 27

Akyra Murray

Akyra Murray - 18

Alejandro Barrios Martinez

Alejandro Barrios Martinez - 21

Jerald Arthur Wright

Jerald Arthur Wright - 31

Joel Rayon Paniagua

Joel Rayon Paniagua - 32

Juan Chavez Martinez

Juan Chavez Martinez - 25

Cory James Connell

Cory James Connell - 21

Paul Terrell Henry

Paul Terrell Henry - 41

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice - 30

Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan

Slug: Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan - 24