Authorities in Florida finished removing the bodies overnight from the scene of the brutal attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando in which more than 49 people were killed and an additional 53 were wounded early Sunday morning. Over and over, workers removed bodies four at a time on stretchers and put them in white vans to be taken to the County Medical Examiner’s Office. Hours before, inside the club, first responders had to make their way through a cacophony of ringing unanswered cellphones, as family and friends repeatedly called their missing loved ones. Ambulance crews called out “If you are alive, raise your hand” to the dozens of injured and dead on the once-jovial dancefloor. Officials had identified 48 victims as of early Monday. Vigils were held in many citiesacross the country Sunday evening, including in Newtown, Connecticut.
