--- title: Wizarding World of Harry Potter Pays Tribute to Employee description: Luis Vielma, who worked at the Universal theme park, was one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting on Sunday. canonical: https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-15T15:56:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:23.118Z og:title: Wizards Raise Wands to Honor Orlando Victims at Harry Potter Theme Park og:description: Luis Vielma was one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. og:url: https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wizards Raise Wands to Honor Orlando Victims at Harry Potter Theme Park twitter:description: Luis Vielma was one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Young Wizards Raise Their Wands to Honor Orlando Victims at Harry Potter Theme Park  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 15, 2016 3:56 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 15, 2016 3:56 PM UTC In the wake of the tragic Orlando shooting on Sunday night, the identity of one of the fallen became clear: Luis Vielma, a 22-year-old who worked at Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. Author J.K. Rowling [has been vocal](http://time.com/4365877/orlando-shooting-jk-rowling-luis-vielma-harry-potter/?iid=sr-link1) about her sadness at the loss, and the theme park also held a vigil to remember him Tuesday night. “Every guest he came across, he created a magic for them that can never be compared to anything in this world,” says a friend in an emotional video. And, in the mourning tradition of the Harry Potter universe, wands were raised to honor him. In _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_, it’s a motion used to collectively recognize the great Albus Dumbledore at his funeral. But it’s also become a part of how Harry Potter fans mourn their own: when actor Alan Rickman, who played Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, passed away in January, [wands were raised](http://time.com/4180498/alan-rickman-tribute-raise-your-wands/) around the world. > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/742224187369107456) > [](https://twitter.com/sarahBijouClub/status/742305992197689344) > [](https://twitter.com/tufayel/status/742326591850749952) > [](https://twitter.com/JohnConnonActs/status/742325463494885376) > [](https://twitter.com/catholicgirl123/status/742433432899354624) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/"},"headline":"Young Wizards Raise Their Wands to Honor Orlando Victims at Harry Potter Theme Park","datePublished":"2016-06-15T15:56:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:23.118Z","description":"Lumos.","url":"https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Orlando"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4369762/orlando-shooting-raise-wands-luis-vielma-harry-potter/","name":"Young Wizards Raise Their Wands to Honor Orlando Victims at Harry Potter Theme Park"}}]}] ```