His voice cracking, tears glistening on his face behind his glasses, out CNN anchor Anderson Cooper paid an emotional and heartfelt tribute to the 49 people shot and killed in Orlando, Fla. Sunday at Pulse nightclub.
Live on television all around the world at the scene of the massacre, Cooper worked hard to maintain his composure as he read the names and told a short story about each of the victims murdered by a gunman who had allied himself with terrorists.
For most of this agonizing seven-minute ordeal, Cooper was only heard and not seen as CNN showed photographs and the names of those who lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But toward the end of the segment, when the network had no more pictures to show, Cooper bravely looked viewers in the eyes as he read the remaining names from a Teleprompter.
In addition to showcasing the victims on television, Cooper tweeted each of their names, and promised viewers their names but not that of their killer would be said aloud, and that the killer’s photograph would not be shown.
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Will be reporting from #Orlando tonight from 8-10pm. And no, I won't be showing the killer's picture or using his name.
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) June 13, 2016
Watch the segment from CNN’s AC360, below, via YouTube:
