“It’s just, I got this feeling,” she said as she waited. “I got a bad feeling.”
Those are the words of Mina Justice, mother of Eddie Jamaldroy Justice, one of the victims from the gruesome mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando on Saturday, June 11th. She waited for hours before her son’s name showed up on an official list of the dead, which, by early Monday, included the names of only 10 of the 50 people shot and killed.
Mina was sleep when she first heart the string of notifications on her phone. But when she saw what her son was typing, she immediately got concerned and feared the one thing that all parents fear: that their child would die before them.
“Mommy I love you,” was a text message she received at 2:06 a.m.
Then she received another: “In club they shooting.”
A minute later, another: “Trapp in bathroom”
Nearly 15 hours after a gunman identified as Omar Mateen walked into Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and killed 50 people, Mina had to learn from the list of names police posted that her son was included in the 50 people who were brutally murdered that night.
The mother described her son as a homebody and an accountant. He liked to work out and make people laugh.
Here is the conversation, as compiled from the report by Slate:
Eddie: “Mommy I love you” (2:06 a.m.)
Eddie: “In club they shooting.”
Mina: “U ok”
Eddie: “Trapp in bathroom.” (2:07 a.m.)
Mina: “What club”
Eddie: “Pulse. Downtown. Call police.”
Eddie: “I’m gonna die.” (2:08 a.m.)
Mina: “I’m calling them now.”
Mina: “U still in there”
Mina: “Answer our damn phone”
Mina: “Call them”
Mina: “Call me.”
Eddie: “Call them mommy” (2:39 a.m.)
Eddie: “Now.”
Mina: [Is anyone hurt?]
Eddie: “Lots. Yes.” (2:42 a.m.)
Mina: [Are you with police?]
Mina: “Text me please”
Eddie: “No” (2:46 a.m.)
Eddie: ‘”Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us.”
Mina: “The police is in There let me no when u see the police” (2:49 a.m.)
Eddie: “Hurry” (2:49 a.m.)
Eddie: “He’s in he bathroom with us” (2:50 a.m.)
Eddie: “Women’s bathroom is” (2:50 a.m.)
Mina: “Is the man in the bathroom wit u”
Eddie: “He’s a terror”
Eddie: “Yes” (2:51 a.m.)
Mina: “Are u hurt”
Mina: “Stay there he don’t like gay people” (2:52 a.m.)
Mina: “Text me please” (2:53 a.m.)
Mina: “I love u” (2:54 a.m.)
Mina: “Don’t do nothing”
Mina: “Stay down”
Mina: “Baby text me”
According to a GoFundMe page set up by his cousin for funeral expenses, “Eddie could walk in and the room would light up. His smile was as bright as his future. He was also very upfront and outspoken and lived life to the fullest without any regrets. Eddie loved his mother and was a momma’s boy at heart. His mom is his best friend. Eddie has a gentle soul and would give you the shirt of his back.”
To support the family in their time of need, click here.
‘Mommy I Love You’; Mom Shares Last Texts From Son During Mass Shooting was originally published on blackdoctor.org
