Luis Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal. He was 22 years old. I can’t stop crying. #Orlando pic.twitter.com/Nz2ZCWxNsS
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 13, 2016
We’re still trying to wrap our heads around the shooting in Orlando yesterday, during which an American citizen who apparently claimed allegiance to ISIS committed a hate crime by going into a gay club called Pulse during their Latin Night and shooting. 50 people including the shooter were killed, and another 53 were injured, making this the largest-scale act of terrorism on American soil since 9/11.
One of those victims was 22-year-old Luis Vielma, a college student who worked at Universal Studios operating the Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride. In the above tweet, you’ll see the photo of him in his work uniform and that word of his death got to Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling. She expressed grief over the situation, saying, “I can’t stop crying.” As friends and coworkers of Vielma’s responded to the tweet offering up memories of him and sharing what he was like, Rowling took the time to respond to many in their hour of grief.
Buzzfeed has a comprehensive list of the shooting victims, and is filling in information about each one as it is received. You can learn more about Vielma there. He seems like an amazing man that I would have liked to get to know, and I’m sorry that more people won’t have the chance to do that.
Latinx, pop culture-loving geeks who are LGBTQIA are pretty much the intersection of all the groups I consider family, so Vielma’s death as well as all the others still feels too big to me to be processed. May they all rest in peace, and may we all keep fighting for the LGBTQIA community, particularly its members of color, to be kept safe.
(via Deadline Hollywood)
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