B.C. reacts to massacre at gay nightclub in Orlando

Residents in B.C are reacting to the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida at a gay nightclub Sunday morningthat left 50 deadand another 53 injured.

"That's the worst thing I've read in a long time," saidMatthewBarnard. "Like I was stunned. I don't know I had a little cry to be honest. My son is in the gay community so I felt it really close."

His son Jackson says he too was horrified.

"It's the last thing I wanted to see especially after the other killing the other day," Barnard said, referring to the murder of singer Christina Grimmie in Orlando on Friday."Yeah it's absolutely terrifying."

Still, people in the LGBTQ communityin Vancouver's West End say they are not living in fear because of events in Orlando.

"Oh completely safe, I've been walking these streets for sixty years... no, no there's not aproblem here," said Gerard Goguen. "It's terrible, for one thing. It's an act against gay people but I don't think it's a big group, it's an isolated affair. This is a just a local with a bone to pick with gay people because there are gay Muslims."

News of the tragedy in Orlando came just as Quesnel was holding its second ever Pride weekend.

"The first reaction was uttersadness," saidMartina Feldman of the Quesnel Pride Society. " We spent the night celebrating and in Florida this was going on but it makes it even more evident that these parades are necessarybecause we do have hate crimes committed all over the world and in the LGBTQ community."

Vancouver's Pride celebrations will begin later in July and many who areplanning on attending feel that the events in Orlando will be marked during them.

"Absolutely.I believe that we are united as human beings not just because it's a gay community. It's human beings," said FernandoEst in Vancouver. "As a gay person thisis horrible, my heart bleeds."

'Well frankly I'm numb more than anything else," said Vancouver City CouncillorTim Stevenson. "When I first heard it, the only words that came inside is 'oh no, no, oh no.' I can't imagine what it's like for families of so many people I mean we're talking about hundreds of people."

In Vancouver on Sunday people gathered for a vigil at 8 p.m. PT at the art gallery to rememberthe victims of Orlando. Similar events are being held around the province. On Monday, the City of Victoria will raise a pride flag to half mast at city hall.

with files from Deborah Goble