Victims of Orlando mass shooting remembered by loved ones

The Orlando Police Department has released the names of eight victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, with more to be announced as next of kin are notified.

The released names are: Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34; Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22; Luis S. Vielma, 22; and Kimberly Morris, 37. Sotomayor's cousin, David Sotomayor, told The Associated Press his cousin worked for a company that ran gay cruises, and he "was always just part of the fun." The cousins discovered they were related after meeting 10 years ago at Orlando's annual Gay Days, and David Sotomayor said they last chatted over Facebook a week ago. "You never think that's going to be the last time you speak to him," he said. "It's just heartbreaking to know it just can happen anytime."

Guerrero worked as a telemarketer, and recently began taking classes at University of Central Florida. "He was always this amazing person [and] he was like a big brother to me," his cousin, Robert Guerrero, told AP. "He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew." When Almodovar's mother, Rosalie Ramos, received a call in the middle of the night telling her to rush down to Pulse, she was hoping her son had been shot in the "hand or leg," since you can "survive" a shot there, but he was hit in the chest, stomach, and side, and died at Orlando Regional Medical Center, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Almodovar was a pharmacy technician with a promising future, his aunt Yoly said, and an "amazing person with a good soul."

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Update: More victims from the shooting have been identified: Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30; Darryl Roman Burt II, 29; Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32; Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21; Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25; Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35; and Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50.