ORLANDO, Fla. _ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday ordered a moment of silence and state flags to be flown at half-staff on Friday, the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that left 49 innocent people dead.
Pulse Remembrance Day, declared in a proclamation signed by the governor, asks Floridians to "pause for a moment of silence" at 9 a.m.
The document calls the massacre "one of the darkest moments in our state's history" and lists the names of all the victims of a gunman who targeted the club just south of downtown Orlando. The shooter was later killed by police after a standoff.
"We continue to pray for the survivors, family and friends of those lost on that tragic day," the proclamation reads.
The onePULSE Foundation, which has held a remembrance ceremony each year and is raising money for a permanent memorial and museum, will close the interim memorial site on South Orange Avenue at the site of the club on Friday to allow family members of the 49 victims, survivors and first responders to pay tribute privately.
