--- title: DNC: Family and Friends of an Orlando Victim to Speak description: Friends and family of a victim of the Orlando shooting will speak Wednesday at the Democratic convention to speak about gun violence. canonical: https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-27T20:50:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:35:49.999Z article:section: Politics og:title: Family, Friends of an Orlando Victim Speaking at Convention og:description: About gun violence. og:url: https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dcd5ac557d56ab6/69889fd40b72e32c4a6ea699/christine-leinonen.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Orlando Continues To Mourn The Mass Shooting At Gay Club That Killed 49 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Family, Friends of an Orlando Victim Speaking at Convention twitter:description: About gun violence. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dcd5ac557d56ab6/69889fd40b72e32c4a6ea699/christine-leinonen.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Family and Friends of an Orlando Victim to Speak at the Democratic Convention by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 27, 2016 8:50 PM UTC  Christine Leinonen (R) arrives at the wake for her son Christopher "Dru" Leinonen, June 17, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Christine Leinonen (R) arrives at the wake for her son Christopher "Dru" Leinonen, June 17, 2016 in Orlando, Florida.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 27, 2016 8:50 PM UTC Survivors and family of victims of the June shooting in Orlando will speak Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to speak about gun violence. The shooting by Omar Mateen left 49 people dead after he opened fire in Pulse, a gay nightclub, on June 12\. Tonight, his mother, friend and ex-boyfriend will support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at the convention and call for gun safety legislation. **Christine Leinonen** Leinonen will be a familiar face to people who watched ABC coverage of the shooting: She was one of the first to arrive on-scene, and in a heartbreaking interview told the world she was waiting to hear the fate of her son, Christopher “Drew” Leinonen. He did not survive. “They said there’s a lot of dead bodies in the club. That it’s a crime scene. They can’t identify anybody. So it could be hours and hours before we find out,” Leinonen said at the time. **Brandon Wolf** Wolf was one of Drew’s friends who texted Christine Leinonen the night of the shooting, when he saw Drew’s ex-boyfriend [“had multiple gunshots and was being taken by the ambulance but he never saw Christopher \[come\] out. And we haven’t been able to call him or text him.”](http://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-man-missing-orlando-club-shooting-breaks-awaits/story?id=39794076) Wolf escaped because he was in the bathroom when the shooting began, the Orlando _Sentinel_ reported. **Jose Arriagada** Arriagada was also [a survivor of the shooting and Drew’s ex-boyfriend](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-mother-of-pulse-victim-to-speak-at-democratic-national-convention-20160726-story.html). He [remained close to him](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/victims/os-christopher-drew-leinonen-funeral-20160618-story.html) after they broke up, and called him his “first love.” The _Sentinel_ reported they met in 2009, and Drew helped teach Arriagada English. The _Sentinel_ reported Drew, 32, was a gay-rights activist and one of the final victims of the shooting to be identified. His boyfriend, Juan Guerrero, was also killed in the incident. Clinton [visited the site of the shooting last week](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-clinton-orlando-visit-story.html), the day she announced Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/"},"headline":"Family and Friends of an Orlando Victim to Speak at the Democratic Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-27T20:50:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:35:49.999Z","description":"Friends and family of a victim of the Orlando shooting will speak Wednesday at the Democratic convention to speak about gun violence.","url":"https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Hillary Clinton","Orlando Shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dcd5ac557d56ab6/69889fd40b72e32c4a6ea699/christine-leinonen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dcd5ac557d56ab6/69889fd40b72e32c4a6ea699/christine-leinonen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Orlando Continues To Mourn The Mass Shooting At Gay Club That Killed 49","caption":"Orlando Continues To Mourn The Mass Shooting At Gay Club That Killed 49","creditText":"Drew Angerer—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/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4426865/dnc-orlando-victim-speakers/","name":"Family and Friends of an Orlando Victim to Speak at the Democratic Convention"}}]}] ```