Man’s terrifying texts to mom reveal what went on inside Orlando club

Mina Justice woke up to text messages from her son telling her he was being held hostage in the club’s bathroom

Orlando mass shooting at a gay night club on Sunday which took 50 lives and left another 53 injured was the worst massacre in US history. However, watching the horror unfold on TV or reading about it in the newspaper cannot reveal the depth of terror the victims must have gone through.

Imagine then what this mother would have been through when she was woken up from a sound sleep by terrifying text messages from her son telling her he was being held hostage in the club’s bathroom.



This is the conversation Mina Justice had over text message with her 30-year-old son, Eddie Justice, who is still missing:

“Mommy I love you,” the first message said. It was 2:06am. “In club they shooting.”

Justice tried calling her son, an accountant, but couldn’t reach him, so she texted him. At 2:07am he replied: “Trapp in bathroom.”

When she asked him which club, he replied, "Pulse. Downtown. Call police.” Then at 2:08am he said: “I’m gonna die.”

Justice called 911 and kept texting her boy. “I’m calling them now. U still in there. Answer our damn phone. Call them. Call me.”



Justice describes her son as a homebody who liked to eat, work out and make people laugh.

At 2:39 am, he responded: “Call them mommy. Now.” And then, “He’s coming. I’m gonna die.”

PHOTO: AP

When Justice asked him if anyone was hurt, he answered, “Lots. Yes.” She then sent several more messages asking him if the police had arrived. To which he replied, “No. Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us.”

At 2:49am, she told him the police were there and to let her know when he saw them. “Hurry,” he wrote. “He’s in the bathroom with us.”



“Is the man in the bathroom wit u?” she asked and at 2:50am he texted: “He’s a terror.”

Then, a final text from her son a minute later: “Yes.”

And that was the last Justice heard from her son and she fears the worst. “His name has not come up yet and that’s scary. It’s just ...” she said. “It’s just, I got this feeling. I got a bad feeling.”

This article originally appeared on Guardian.