VIDEO: Retired Detroit Officer's Son Among Orlando Club Shooting Victims
Mark Bando, a retired Detroit police officer, just received confirmation Monday his 32-year-old son was one of the victims in the Orlando club massacre, reports Fox Detroit.
"Right now I'm in a dream hoping I'll wake up from a bad dream and it will not be true," Bando said. "We kind of expected another Paris to happen somewhere in the continental U.S. but to expect that one of your own family is going to be involved seemed very remote."
Christopher grew up in Michigan, but moved to Florida with his mother where he went to school, eventually receiving his master's degree and becoming a psychologist.
"I was very proud of my son," Bando said. "I think any father would be proud of him. He was handsome, intelligent, educated, and an all-around good kid."
Christopher was at Pulse, a gay night club, with his partner Juan Guerro, who also died in the mass shooting.
Bando can't help but wish his son had been better protected that night, hoping he would've had a chance to fight back against a madman. "If someone in that place would have had a pistol, even one person, they could have put a stop to it and saved a lot of lives."
Of course that is one of the issues many have, another mass shooter picked a gun-free zone to target victims. Even if Christopher Leinonen had had a CPL and a gun, he wouldn't have been able to have it in the club.
