--- description: With 49 people killed in Orlando, TIME spoke to families who lost loved ones in the Charleston shooting and the Sandy Hook shooting title: They Suffered Through Mass Shootings. Here Are Their Messages for Orlando image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01866ffafdc45ac8/698897c83c163930a745da62/gettyimages-539756742.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # They Suffered Through Mass Shootings. Here Are Their Messages for the Orlando Victims  by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2016 5:55 PM CUT  Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016\. (Joshua Lim/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016\. (Joshua Lim/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)Orlando Sentinel/TNS/Getty Images  by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2016 5:55 PM CUT “I just want them to know, there’s nothing they could have done to keep this from happening.Try not to feel guilty about that.” That’s Rev. Anthony Thompson’s message to the people who lost family and friends in [the Orlando shooting](http://time.com/4368570/orlando-shooting-pulse-survivors/?xid=homepage "undefined"), [the worst mass shooting in U.S. history](http://time.com/4365325/orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-deadliest-history/ "undefined"). Thompson speaks from painful experience: His wife Myra was one of [nine people killed when a gunman opened fire during Bible study](http://time.com/time-magazine-charleston-shooting-cover-story/ "undefined") at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., last year. She was 59. With 49 people killed by a gunman police identified as Omar Mateen, even more injured and several still clinging to life, TIME spoke to families who lost loved ones in the 2015 Charleston shooting and the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, which saw 20 children and six adults adults killed. “I will never say I know what you’re going through,” said Mark Barden who lost his 7-year-old son in the Connecticut school shooting. “I will tell them that I have a sense of what that pain feels like, I’m hurting with you.” Watch these messages and more in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4368582/orlando-shooting-newtown-charleston/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4368582/orlando-shooting-newtown-charleston/"},"headline":"They Suffered Through Mass Shootings. Here Are Their Messages for the Orlando Victims","datePublished":"2016-06-14T17:55:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:36:06.294Z","description":"The families of shooting victims offer support to those now enduring a pain they know all too well","url":"https://time.com/4368582/orlando-shooting-newtown-charleston/","keywords":["Crime","Florida","Orlando","Orlando Shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01866ffafdc45ac8/698897c83c163930a745da62/gettyimages-539756742.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01866ffafdc45ac8/698897c83c163930a745da62/gettyimages-539756742.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Aftermath of Orlando club shooting","caption":"Aftermath of Orlando club shooting","creditText":"Orlando Sentinel/TNS/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4368582/orlando-shooting-newtown-charleston/","name":"They Suffered Through Mass Shootings. Here Are Their Messages for the Orlando Victims"}}]}] ```