ORLANDO, Fla. -- In Orlando, the medical examiner has started releasing the bodies of the Pulse nightclub shooting victims to their families.
The tragedy hit the gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. Sunday was Latino Night at the Pulse nightclub. An official says 23 of the 49 victims killed in the massacre at a gay Florida nightclub shooting are Puerto Ricans.
A memorial is drawing people close to victims and others from far away who were moved by the messages of support and loss. Florida Gov. Rick Scott stopped by.
The June heat felt like 100+ degrees, so volunteers were out handing out water, snacks and sunscreen.
Earlier on Tuesday, a doctor at Orlando Regional Medical Center says that six people wounded are "critically ill" at the hospital and another five patients are in "guarded" condition.
Dr. Michael Cheatham says 16 patients at the hospital are in stable condition. He described the shooting as "the largest disaster that we probably could have imagined."
Cheatham says hospital and trauma centers prepare for disasters, but "you can never prepare adequately." He described great support at the hospital, saying there was "never a time we were without anything we needed." He also says the facility escalated from two operating rooms to six within 30 to 60 minutes to care for the flood of patients.
Dr. Kathryn Bondani says the first patient that arrived was relatively stable, and the staff hoped that others would be in a similar condition. But the doctors soon got about five patients in much worse shape.
Dr. Chadwick Smith choked up a bit talking about the night. He described calling in additional staff and telling them, "This is not a drill, this is not a joke."
He says everyone answered "I'll be right there," and dozens of doctors and nurses showed up to help.
A man who survived the nightclub shooting in Orlando says he thought "I'm next, I'm dead" as the gunman fired toward his head.
Angel Colon described the horrific night he survived. Appearing to the conference in a wheelchair with the doctors and nurses who treated him nearby, Colon talked about what happened early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub.
He says the gunman shot a girl next to him and then shot his hand and his hip. He says he pretended to be dead and the gunman kept firing his gun.
Colon says at times the gunman was shooting people who appeared that they had already been killed.
He thanked the hospital staff and said "I will love you guys forever."
The medical examiner and his team were expected to finish autopsies on all 49 shooting victims by Tuesday. Autopsies were required for all the victims since their deaths are classified as homicides.