Brooklyn-born mom who saved her son in the Orlando nightclub shooting was remembered during an emotional funeral service at the First United Methodist Church of Orlando on Monday, June 20.
According to US Weekly, Brenda Lee Marquez McCool was salsa dancing with her son Isaiah Henderson when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub, on Sunday, June 12. The 49-year-old mom of 11 reportedly stepped in front of her son and instructed him to “get down” moments before she was shot dead.
“My mom was the best mom,” Henderson, 21, said, sobbing, during a heartbreaking eulogy on Monday, according to a video posted by NBC News. “I never thought her life would end right in front of my eyes.”
He continued, “Everybody who knew my mom knew her as the mom everybody wanted. She always took everybody in with open arms. She loved everybody equally, no matter what. I wouldn’t trade my mom for the world.”
McCool’s brother, Michael Marquez Jr., later said that his sister is dancing in heaven, quipping, “Tell Jesus to step up his salsa game.”
McCool, who was a two-time cancer survivor, was studying for her real estate license after moving to Orlando from California. She was born in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
“She was a warrior,” son Farrell Marshall Jr. said on Monday. “You have to pay attention to certain moments in your life. You go from seeing your own mother smiling to seeing her in a coffin. I’ll never see her smile again.”
The shooting at Pulse nightclub, which is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, left 50 people dead, including gunman Mateen, and dozens more injured.
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