This Couple Killed in the Orlando Shooting Hoped to Get Married. Now They Will Have a Joint Funeral
A couple who was deeply in love when they were killed during a gunman’s shooting rampage inside an Orlando nightclub will have a joint funeral service, their families said Monday.
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, and his 32-year-old boyfriend, Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, were among the 49 people who lost their lives Sunday in the worst mass shooting in American
history.
Services still need to be planned by the reeling families, but
they want the two to be side-by-side when loved ones bid farewell, said
Guerrero’s father, who has the same name as his son...
“I
think my son wanted to do that. That’s why,” the elder Juan Ramon
Guerrero, 61, said through tears. “I don’t care what the people think. I
don’t care.”
The
younger Guerrero and his boyfriend lived together and had been dating
for nearly two years, family members said. Guerrero’s family was “really
loving and accepting” when he came out as gay to them about three years
ago, Aryam Guerrero, the victim’s 24-year-old sister, told TIME.
“They
were honestly so in love. They were soul mates. You can tell by how
they looked at each other,” she said. “It’s a little comforting that
they died together.”
“If it’s not a funeral, they were going to have a wedding together,” she added.
The
younger Guerrero had just finished his first year studying at the
University of Central Florida after spending two years at a community
college. He wanted to be a financial advisor and worked as a customer
service rep for a credit union, his sister said.
“He was so much love and light,” Aryam Guerrero said.
Leinonen
had gone missing after the early Sunday shooting. While a friend saw
Guerrero’s body being carried out of the club in a stretcher, no one had
seen or heard of Leinonen, Guerrero’s father said. His death was
confirmed Monday afternoon on the city of Orlando’s official website
dedicated to naming the deceased.
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