this is "nightline". tonight. three young women at this club, the moment of terror changed their lives forever. >> let's go get tiara. we got to get tiara. >> the remarkable story of survival. being pulled out from the hole in the wall and remembering their friend they lost. plus, did she know the shooters wife now a focus of the investigations a we learn more about his possible secret life. and the assault weapon at the center of the attack. s in 40 states available without a gun license. now renewed calls to ban america's rifle. but first, the "nightline" five.

♪ good evening, thank you for joining us. a newportera porcherate is emer the man who killed at the orlando night club. and now stories from the

terrible night we're hearing for the first time. three young women out on the town trapped in a deadly nightmare. >> reporter: what did he look like to you when you went face to face with the killer? >> he looked deranged. he looked like something was mentally wrong with him. >> reporter: before the massacre began that would take 49 victims, injuring 53, the night started out like most nights at pulse in orlando. latin music blasting, close to 300 inside. 20-year-old tiara parker was there with her cousin and best frie friend. >> reporter: three straight girls at a gay night club. >> they loved us from the time we walked in the door. we were comfortable. we were having so much fun. we thought this was going to be the kick off for the rest of the week. >> reporter: but just as they ordered their uber car to leave,

shots rang out. in the confusion, friends are split up. patience and akeira making it out. >> i tell her let's go get tiara, we got to get tiara. >> reporter: they find tiara and more than a dozen others. but they're cornered, all of them trying to hide from the gunman inside the back bathroom. >> we were the last ones to get in the bathroom stall and so the gunman came in and you hear him load the gun. >> we're screaming at the top of our lungs. people are getting hit by bullets. there blood was everywhere and then there was a moment where he stopped shooting in the bathroom. >> reporter: for three torcherous hours they were trapped in the bathroom by the gunman. so the bullet went in there? >> it went in there and came out my back. >> reporter: she tried to negotiate with the killer.

what was she saying? >> that we're hurt, please leave us alone. she was shot in her arm right here. i feel the pain. i started to feel the pain. >> reporter: and you laid on top of your cousin's arm because you wanted to stop the bleeding. >> i guess me must have thought i die would my eyes open and i kept staring at him and from then i thought he was going to shoot me in my face but i was just sitting there and i staired at him and he got up and said "oh, yeah." >> he stopped shooting for a while and made a call to 911 and said the reason he's doing this is he wants america to stop bombing his country, he pledges allegiance to isis. >> he asked if there were any black people and he sds i know what you guys been through in slavery and anything. it's nothing personal. i'm just trying to send a

message to the government to stop killing my people in iraq. all i remember him saying is hey, you and shot three more times, killing three more people. >> reporter: they saved kierra, patience, and the other hostages. >> he came in the stall with us. we could no longer hold the door. because the stall didn't lock. that's why we had to hold it. >> reporter: tiara watched as police and the shooter exchanged heavy gun fire. >> they killed him. i watched him die. i could see him. >> reporter: but akeira was lying lifeless on the floor. >> i feel her, i grab her hand and i feel her grab me back and i'm like, please, get her, get her. they're like, we got to get you first, then we can get her. >> reporter: patience was shot in both legs. they would spend the next day 1/2 in the dark until news came that akeira did not

survive. >> she's a hero. she came back looking for me. to make sure i was going to get out with them. my cousin had the brightest future in front of her. >> reporter: tonight there is new insight into the mind of the shooter, omar mateen. the fbi leaning heavily on his wife who allegedly tried to talk him out of harming anyone. seen her face hidden under her sweatshirt, after packing up her belongings from the couple's apartment. she could face charges if she had prior knowledge of the attack. she was with her husband when he recently bought ammo and a gun holster. they have full access to his phone and are combing it for clues. james van horn hangs out at pulse often. he says mateen was a regular over the last few years but not to survey it.

>> it's not like he just sat and staired at people. he was an active person who tried to find somebody, maybe to go to bed at night. >> reporter: his interest in gay men may have gone back at least 10 years at former law enforcement training course who didn't want his face shown. >> because i wasn't out at the time, i told him no, i'm not. and he said if you were gay, you would definitely be my type of guy. >> reporter: while law enforcement seeks to understand his motive, the family of cory seeks to find their own answers. >> if you need anything, he would drop anything and give you anything you needed. >> he's the kind of guy who would take a bullet. >> he would take a bullet for anybody. >> reporter: cory was at pulse with his girlfriend and their

football team, celebrating the final game of the season. >> he was behind her when they were leaving and when the guy came in, he shot paula first and she grabbed my brother's hand and said run but my brother being the hero he is, he threw her hand down and told her to run and that's when he was shot. >> reporter: after the shooting, the family headed to the hospital, hoping cory would emerge. i looked out the woinindow and them first and warned everybody. i knew what it menant. when they told my mom he was deceased, we fell to the floor. the only thing i could say was it's unfair and i just wanted my best friend back. >> reporter: it is unfair. >> but you know, he had a task to do and he protected someone else. >> it hurts. >> reporter: tonight tiara is recovering from the horrific

attack. the remains of that night inside that plastic bag. those are the bullet holes? >> yes. >> reporter: that's unbelievable. >> this is my long sweater and these are my white jeans that they split off the knee. this shows heroism to me. those clothes. this showed that i didn't go down without a fight. >> reporter: she said it's still working. >> still ticking. >> reporter: what will it mean to you? >> show that i've liverd throug a tragedy and i made the through, me and my best friend. >> reporter: akeira's mother reminisces about her daughter who attended prom and graduated from high school just last week. >> my daughter came back to save her cousin. it gave me some closure to be able to accept that she's gone but she's gone for a good cause

because she could have been selfish and saved herself. but she thought enough of her cousin to say listen, we're here together so we go down together. >> reporter: and patience trying to heal but some wounds take longer than others. >> the guilt of healing, lucky to be alive is heaven when you lay beside individuals whose lives are brutally taken, the guilt of being alive is heavy. sgler >> reporter: for "nightline," orlando, florida. >> our thanks to juju for that report. and families want to express an out pouring of support. up next, both sides take aim at the assault weapon in the center severe ulcerative colit, the possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. thinking about what to avoid, is

is. the killings in orlando bring a contentious debate, especially when it comes to weapons, the kinds used in this and other attacks now burned in our memory. sandy hook. san bernardino. >> shooting at my work, people shot. pray for us. >> reporter: now orlando. senseless acts of terror perpetrated by different murderers acting on different ideologies but with one thing in common. an ar-15 style rifle. >> the 30-round magazine. when it's done, pop the magazine

out, get another magazine and load it. boom. >> reporter: in the we hour of sunday morning in orlando, this gun, six-hour mcx was part of a shooting spree that killed 49 people and injured 53 more at pulse night club, worst mass shooting in american history. this is a commercial for the so-called assault rifle and in florida, as well as 39 other states, no special license is required to purchase one and you can buy one, bring it home the very same day. >> you could purchase this six-hour rifle and depending on how quick the state gives you the background check, you could be out of the store in 10 minutes. >> reporter: he cleared the background check, a controversial subject now that that fbi introduced that he's been interviewed. >> he passed a background check

that every single person in the state of florida undergoes. >> reporter: as a weary nation faces yet another series of vigils, tears and senseless loss. >> we americans are capable of both protecting our second amendment rights while making sure guns don't fall into the wrong hands. >> reporter: democratic presidential contender, hill hill calling for a new assault weapon ban in the wake of a shooting. but in florida, many are saying that's not the problem. >> if there had been other guns inside there, the shooting could have been stopped sooner. >> reporter: he owns the arms room in orlando. he's agreed to show us the inand outs of the ar-15. >> it's the generic term for this family of weapons . i can use it for hunting, personal defense, a wall hanger if i want to. >> reporter: we meet several women there to buy hand guns.

>> i'm here to buy a gun to protect myself. >> reporter: we watch as this woman fills out a self-reported form. >> the two that we're concerned about when you enter it into the computer are have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective and have you ever denounced your united states citizenship. >> reporter: and he's opposed to a assault rifle ban. >> it was so that an individual could use it against a tyrannical government, they wanted you to have like weaponry and that's why they should be allowed in the civilian rifle. >> reporter: of course, enacted in 1994, during the bill clinton administration, partially in response to a tragic school shooting in stockton, california. >> the combination of the ammunition and the magazine is a lethal combination and that's

what we saw play out in orlando and could have been prevented. >> reporter: he's president of the citizens crime commission in new york city. and one of the arctects of the assault rifle ban. there are people that argue that it did not reduce homicides. >> during the 10 years while the ban is in effect, those shootings that go down by half. in the 10 years after the ban laug lapses, it goes up almost three times and that ban was absolutely having an effect. >> reporter: but many studies argue that the assault weapons ban was largely ineffective, including the 2004 study stating we cannot clearly credit the ban with the nation's drop in gun violence. and a abc news washington post

poll found many believing that armed citizens can help combat loan wolf attacks. but in a nation where mass shootings are nauseatingly common place, many are placing blame squarely on the nra whose website is littered with videos of semiautomatic rifles has actually dubbed the ar-15 america's rifle. >> it's so widely popular that it could be called america's rifle. >> reporter: they estimate there are roughly 5 million to 10 million ar-15s owned in the u.s. the fbi data show they account for a very small fraction of america's 30,000 annual gun deaths. this is part of the nra's argument against the assault weapons ban. but many say the group has also blocked universal background checks. >> the chair ask that the house

now observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks in orlando, florida. >> reporter: yesterday frustration against moments of silence over any kind of action made its way to the congressional floor. >> silence, that is how the leadership of the strongest country in the world will respond. not anymore. >> this is a debate that no longer happens in the realm of fact. it hap npens in the realm of anr wr the head of nra tells people that the president is hell bent on getting rid of their guns. >> reporter: they mocked the sympathy messages by retweeting them and disclosing how much money they receive from the nra. >> the vast majority of americans i believe are like me.

i support the right for an american to own a gun and like any other right we have, there are going to be restrictions. we could allow our citizens access but do it in a much smarter way that would save a whole lot of lives. >> reporter: too late for the 49 lives taken in orlando. no doubt there will be more in the days and weeks to come. we'll be back in the moment. >> abc news "nightline" brought to you by purina. y say big can never be good. purina believes it can. inspecting every ingredient for quality? that's big. being confident that your pet's food is 100% safe? that's big, too. spending more healthy years with your best friend? that's amazing. big is exciting... daring... for everyone. pets don't just make life better - they make it bigger. purina. live big.

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