A mother sacrificed her life to save her son in the Orlando massacre, it has been revealed.
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, was out dancing with her son, Isaiah Henderson, in the early hours of Sunday evening when she was gunned down.
Ms McCool was reportedly a cancer survivor who loved to dance and often visited the club with her son, one of 11 children.
She posted a video on social media of people enjoying salsa dancing to Latin music inside the nightclub targeted, Pulse - just two hours before chaos erupted.
“Brenda saw him point the gun. She said, ‘Get down!’ to Isaiah and she got in front of him,” Ada Pressley, Ms McCool's sister in law, told the New York Daily News.
“She was shot dead. That’s how much she loved her kids. If it weren’t for her, he’d of been shot.”
Mr Henderson called his sister, Khalisha Pressley, immediately after the murder.
"He had to watch his mother die," Ms Pressley told NBC. "He saw everybody getting killed."
Mr Henderson later wrote on Facebook: “Just laying here thinking that I was just with my mom 24 hours ago, this is so surreal. I love you mom.”
Her family and friends paid tribute to her strength and love.
"She was a good mother [and] a good provider," her ex-husband, Robert Vince Pressley Sr., told the broadcaster. "She was always trying to help people, taking people in who had no place to live."
Her daughter, Khalisha Pressley, said: "She was always really cool, but really a mom at the end of the day. The sweetest, lovingest person in the world."
The family has now launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of her funeral and to support her children.
Ms McCool’s fifth child, Farrell Marshall, wrote: “One Decision changed the lives of many. All I ask is for prayers and whatever you can to help me and brothers sisters to be able to pick up the pieces where she left off. You will forever be in our hearts. Always. I truly love you so much Mom!”
