It was 4:14 a.m. on Sunday when (Northland Church) Pastor Joel Hunter received an urgent email from Northlander Justin Lemieux, an officer with the Belle Isle Police Department.
Subject line: Tragedy.
“You will find when you wake in the morning, there is a large-scale mass casualty incident occurring as we speak. I am very close to the scene. Now, more than ever, we need God. Please pray for all of those involved.”
We spoke with Officer Lemieux about his experiences that fateful morning and the hope and unity he sees emerging from this tragedy.
Q: What can you tell us about your experiences that day?
A: Well, we had gotten the call earlier that morning just a little bit after 2 a.m. And as the information started to pour in, I realized just how bad things were getting. Hearing the various radios go off between Orange County and the Orlando Police Department, we obviously knew that this was just going to be horrific.
The first thing that came to my mind was that we needed prayer. I was far enough outside of the scene that I was OK to do this … I pulled out my phone and started typing the email to Pastor Joel.
Q: What was it like at the scene?
A: I have two other officers I supervise at night. I was packing up my things and getting ready to leave for the evening when the calls started to come in. I started heading toward the scene, and I didn’t hear anything from my guys. The club is outside of our jurisdiction, but because of the severity of the situation, everybody started heading that way.
There on the front lines, I thought to myself, “Oh, my God.” Not only were there people inside the club in trouble, but the officers outside were in a position of risk. I heard one of my guys, Officer Brandon Cornwell, come over the radio and say he was actually in the club while all this was going on, and he started to feed us information. I kind of buckled a little bit when I heard what he was saying.
Q: What did he say?
A: Not to get into graphic detail, but he could hear what was going on. He could hear the shots ringing out, could hear people throughout the club. The last thing that I heard Brandon say was that they had cornered the shooter in the bathroom, and Brandon was watching the door of the bathroom. That was the last I heard from him until it was over.
Q: During worship on Monday night, Pastor Joel mentioned that Officer Cornwell was literally “dragging person after person” from the club.
A: After the shooter had barricaded himself into one of the bathrooms, the SWAT team members came in and they started to replace the officers from their positions. That is when officers started to make those rescue attempts and actually pulled several people from the club. Brandon and another officer I work with, Jon-Paul Gargano, had pulled several people from danger.
It was an active scene. The shooter was still in there and could have come out and re-engaged at any time. Those guys still went in and tried to pull as many people as they could from the building.
Q: Incredible. So many were praying that day and are continuing to pray. How are you seeing God’s hand at work?
A: I can tell you I have never experienced anything even remotely close to this. In this profession, I have seen a lot and experienced a lot, and it weighs on me at times. This weighs very heavily on me. With that being said, I knew as bad as this was that in the end, it would bring people together. Just the outpouring of love and support for people who have been affected by this tragedy. I think it really shows the compassion humanity is capable of in times like these.
I hate to sound cliché, but there is such a bigger picture in all of it. I think that it has become very evident through all of this just how strong we can be in times of adversity and times of tragedy like this. As horrific as this is, it will bring people closer together, and that is where you really start to feel God’s presence.
Q: Romans 13 talks about how those in authority are “ministers of God.” You obviously take that to heart.
A: I have been doing this a long time, and I’ll tell you at one point I actually got out of the job and thought that I was going to end up going to law school. I tried that route for a little bit, and it was very shortly after I realized that law enforcement is where my calling was and I needed to go back.
I think there is something ingrained in the men and women who do this. Like many professions, this job is not for everyone. But there is definitely a great sense of satisfaction and reward that comes when you are able to touch people’s lives in a positive way.
Q: How can the Northland community support you and your fellow officers right now?
A: There has been a great outpouring of support from people everywhere. People come up to you on the street, and say, “Hey, we want to thank you for your service” and shake your hand.
Brandon and I were leaving Monday night’s service, and we had many people come up to us and express their gratitude and appreciation. It is very rewarding to hear that. There is no doubt that at times, like many professions, this can be a little bit of a thankless job. But you know that going into it. It is very comforting to hear from people how much they do appreciate what we do.
Q: Well, you are very much appreciated!
A: Well, I appreciate that! The first time I ever spoke with Pastor Joel, I told him, “You know, this church saved my life.” I didn’t mean in the physical sense, but my soul. That is really how I feel. Northland is such a great place, and when I miss a service, I feel like there is a piece of me that has kind of been missing. The support is there no matter what is going on in the world … people there just couldn’t be more gracious and couldn’t be better in supporting those in need.
Q: How did Northland “save your life”?
A: As I mentioned, I had left the police department for a season. I came to a point where I said, “Wow! Life has really taken a turn … this is not where I’m supposed to be.” I met with a minister, and I’ll never forget what he said to me. He said, “The one thing you have to do is you have to stop trying to control things. You just have to put it in God’s hands and trust in Him.”
We prayed about it and things progressively started to turn for me. The more faith and the more trust I put in God, the more He reassured me that everything would be OK. It was a process that drew me that much closer to Him and has gotten me back to where I am now. {eoa}
This article originally appeared on northlandchurch.net.
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