ORLANDO, Fla. _ At least 246 people have filed claims for a share of the OneOrlando Fund created in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shootings, administrator Ken Feinberg said Tuesday, but the total could reach about 300 by the time last-minute filings are examined.
The fund itself has grown to nearly $26.2 million and could go higher before the Sept. 26 cutoff date, when members of the OneOrlando board will meet to determine how much money family members and survivors will each receive.
"I'm confident that we have used every possible avenue to make contact with those who were victims of the tragedy, and the numbers would indicate that at this point we have reached the majority," said Orlando Magic President Alex Martins, chairman of the OneOrlando board. "And we know that the majority have submitted claims."
The board is on track to begin distributing the money Sept. 27, he said _ 3 { months after gunman Omar Mateen opened fire in the gay nightclub, killing 49 people and wounding at least 50 more.
The OneOrlando board had previously decided that four categories of victims would receive a share of the money: the families of the dead; survivors who were hospitalized for their physical injuries; survivors treated for physical injuries but not hospitalized; and survivors who were in the club at the time the shooting began but escaped without being wounded.
The share each category will receive, though, has yet to be determined.
Feinberg, considered the nation's foremost authority on compensating victims of mass tragedies _ including the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings and the Aurora, Colo., theater shootings _ has repeatedly suggested that families of the 49 people killed should share the bulk of the money donated, with each family getting the same amount.
"In the hierarchy of our legal system, (death) should be at the top," Feinberg said on Tuesday.
Those who were hospitalized, on the other hand, would receive an amount based on the number of days they were in the hospital, Feinberg said.
That decision is unchanged by the fact that both Orlando Health and Florida Hospital have announced that they won't bill Pulse patients.
"This money is a gift," Feinberg said _ not a reimbursement for expenses.
OneOrlando will continue to accept donations online at OneOrlando.org through Sept. 26. If donations are made after that, Feinberg has said, they could go toward a second distribution, assuming there's enough money to warrant it.
If it's a small amount, it's still uncertain where the money would go, although earlier suggestions included building a memorial or supporting a nonprofit that is helping survivors.
Except for those late funds, though, all money raised will go to the victims, Feinberg and Martins have promised. No donations will be used to compensate the administrator or the board or to cover expenses, they added.
