Make wishtv.com your home page

Mom of Plainfield grad killed in Orlando massacre: ‘We can stomp out all this hate’

ORLANDO, Fla. (WISH) – Felica Burt remembers her son as the type of guy who “would do anything for anybody.”

He was a Plainfield, Indiana, High School graduate who was one of 49 people killed in the Pulse nightclub, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Felica and her family returned to Florida to honor Darryl “DJ” Burt and the other victims on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.

Darryl was 29 years old. He earned his college degree on June 11, 2016, and went out to celebrate the next night with his friends at Pulse.

“One day at a time, God is getting us through it,” Felica said.

Darryl worked as a financial aid officer for Kaiser University in Florida. He graduated from Plainfield High School in 2005.

His family moved last year from Hendricks County, Indiana, to Tennessee. Felica spoke with 24-Hour News 8 via FaceTime from Orlando.

“They’re showing us lots of love that has been extended to us,” she said. “Lots of love in the city period.”

Some of the love is coming from Darryl’s old state.

Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis’ LGBTQ Alliance planned a memorial for all the victims outside Taylor Hall on Monday night. Junior Taylor Parker, who helped organize the memorial, said it was to start at 7:30 p.m.

“It is more important now than ever that we fight back, we stand together, we honor these victims with action,” Parker said.

“If we show more love and more God and show more positive things, maybe we can stomp out all this hate,” Felica said. “Because all of this hate that’s going on right now, it’s really crazy. We just need to squash it.”

Never miss another Facebook post from WISH-TV