Pulse Survivor Dies Unexpectedly Three Months After the Shooting

Chris Brodman was found dead at a birthday party Sunday morning. The cause of death is unknown.

Chris Brodman wanted to travel the world.

The 34-year-old was one of the survivors of the Pulse shooting on June 12, which claimed the lives of 49 people. He heard gunshots ring out inside the Florida gay bar while smoking a cigarette. Although he first thought it was just the beat of the music, Broadman saw blood and bodies began to fall. He took cover under a table and then made it to safety across the street.

Brodman claimed that surviving the tragedy gave him a new lease on life. He planned on going back to school, going abroad, and living life to its fullest. Following the shooting, he even got a tattoo over his heart to commemorate the victims.

His plans, however, were cut short Sunday, when Brodman was found dead at a birthday party in Tampa.

Paramedics on the scene reported finding Brodman’s body at 1:17 a.m., in the backyard of the Garden Lake Circle residence. Respondents on the scene, including the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, attempted CPR but to no avail. Brodman was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

The cause of death is currently unknown, and there are no signs of violence. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office told Tampa Patch that coroners must do additional autopsies to determine what happened.

“The final conclusion of the official cause of death is pending additional forensics and toxicology examination by the Medical Examiner’s Office,” agency officials said in an email.

“I'll never, ever understand this,” friend Ramses Tinoco told reporters. Tinoco, 35, also witnessed the Pulse shooting. “He was so young and he could have achieved his dreams and taken the second opportunity God had given us of living to another level. He had so much potential.”

Friends remember Brodman as warm and friendly, an extroverted New Yorker looking for a “fresh start” in Orlando.

“He was so tall and so handsome and always so hyper talking to everybody and anybody,” Tinoco said in an interview with Tampa Bay Times. “To me, he was the center of everything. But he always wanted to be better.”

“It was supposed to be a fun night,” added Orlando Torres 52, a fellow survivor of the Pulse attack. “They were supposed to go out there and just, you know, have a fun night out there in Tampa. It's unfortunate this had to happen to someone that is just so sweet and nice and didn't deserve it, like anybody else.”

Brodman’s boyfriend, Cord Cedeno, is raising money on GoFundMe to pay for funeral costs. He has reached $900 of his $7,000 goal.

Cedeno, who describes Brodman as the “love of [his] life,” wrote in a Facebook post that he is heartbroken. “I still can't believe my baby is gone,” Cedeno said. “I can't sleep. I can't breathe. I don't know how I'm going to go on without him.”