First funerals held for Orlando massacre victims
Kimberly ‘KJ’ Morris became one of the first Orlando shooting victims to be laid to rest.
The first funeral for the victims of Sunday’s massacre were held yesterday, as the people of Orlando continue to deal with the aftermath of the atrocity.
49 people were killed and 53 injured in the shocking terrorist hate crime attack over the weekend,which saw a gunman open fire inside The Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida.
Mourners yesterday flocked to the funeral of one of the first victims to be laid to rest.
Kimberly ‘KJ’ Morris, who was buried at Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery in Kissimmee, Florida.
Morris moved to Orlando a few months, and had only recently started working as a bouncer at Pulse.
Friends said they remembered Morris’ dancing and infectious smile.
“She’d just started working there and told me how she was thrilled to get more involved in the LGBT community there,” her ex-girlfriend Starr Shelton told the Orlando Sentinel.
“She was so excited.”
“That was her personality: smiling, laughing, music, let’s dance,” her uncle, Bryant Davies, added.
“Kim loved to have fun and she was often the source of it”.
Some feared that the service may be disrupted, after members of anti-LGBT hate group the Westboro Baptist Church travelled to Orlando with the intention of protesting as many services as possible with ‘God Hates Fags’ signs.
However, hundreds of local residents are trying to thwart the group – turning up ahead of Westboro and forming a human chain around the memorial locations, to ensure that the families and friends of those who died can mourn in peace.
The ‘human chain’ group is coordinating on Facebook to ensure that all of the local funeral locations remain bigot-free.
Westboro had attempted to protest the funeral of victim Javier Jorge-Reyes yesterday, but were blocked from the event.
