Two from NC, including ECU grad, among Orlando dead

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Monday, June 13, 2016
Orlando shooting's local ties
Two of the victims had ties to North Carolina.

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- One of the people shot to death in an Orlando nightclub was a graduate of East Carolina University.

School leaders have confirmed that 33-year-old Shane Evan Tomlinson graduated from ECU in 2003.

Shane Evan Tomlinson (Facebook)

Tomlinson moved to Orlando after graduation and became the lead singer for the cover band Frequency. His management company said the group had just finished performing at another bar in Orlando and he stopped in at the Pulse afterward.

WSOC-TV reports another of the victims, 25-year-old Tevin Crosby, was from Statesville.

On Monday, ABC11 got to hear some of the first-hand accounts from people inside the club.

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Jason Gonzalez was there with his friend.

Gonzalez made it out OK. His friend was shot five times.

WATCH: Jason Gonzalez describes the chaos at the club to ABC11's Joel Brown.

Jason Gonzalez talks to ABC11. He made it out unscathed but his friend was shot five times.

Somehow Gonzalez's friend survived. He's recovering Monday afternoon at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Gonzalez described the chaos when the gunfire broke out just after 2 a.m.

"I ran when I heard the gunshots. We started running like crazy and me and my best friend, we both fell," Gonzalez said. "You either ducked on the ground or you ran. So people were running on top of each other. And so we both fell. I fell because I tripped over somebody. He fell because he got shot."

Gonzalez said that when he got outside, he ran down the street and ran inside a Subway restaurant, locking himself inside with other terrified clubgoers.

His wounded friend is recovering and is expected to survive.

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