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Autopsies reveal Pulse victims suffered more than 200 gunshot wounds

Orange County ME releases autopsy reports for shooting victims

ORLANDO, Fla. – All 49 autopsies for the Pulse victims were released on Monday afternoon, almost two months after the massacre.

The autopsies reveal the victims died after suffering from more than a collective 200 bullet wounds. It is unclear how many bullets hit more than one person.

Of the 49 victims, autopsies reveal 20 were shot in the head.

The documents from the Orange County Medical Examiner's Office also reveal there were dozens of grazes and bullet fragments found on the victims.

The medical examiner office also wrote that one victim's was shot in the head, suffering from "three high-velocity gunshot wounds."

The more than 200 bullets does not account for the shots fired at the 53 surviving gunshot victims. It is also unclear how many shots were fired that missed. 

Both surviving and deceased Pulse gunshot victims suffered from at least a collective 260 bullet wounds.

As for evidence of the type of weapon used, in one autopsy it is written that they found "a single spent casing consistent with a rifle cartridge" was found inside a victim's shirt.

In the autopsy for 49-year-old mother and cancer survivor Brenda McCool, the examiner wrote she has tattoos that said "mommy" and "my son is my hero." McCool was with one of her sons at Pulse when she was killed.

Another victim's autopsy states he died while being treated in a parking lot near Pulse after being shot in the head.

The FBI did not respond to our request for an update on its investigation into how many shots Mateen fired inside Pulse.


About the Author
Troy Campbell headshot

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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