Marine veteran called hero for actions at Orlando shooting scene

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran is being recognized as a hero for helping dozens of people escape the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub.

Imran Yousuf, a 24-year-old Hindu and former Marine who served in Afghanistan, was working as a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub when he heard the familiar sounds of gunfire.

"That was a shock. Three or four shots go off and you could just tell it was a high caliber," he told CBS News. "Everyone froze."

As patrons raced to flee the gunfire, they packed into the back staff hallway where he was, Yousuf said. He instructed them to open a latch on a nearby door to exit the building, but they froze in a state of panic, he said.
"I'm just screaming, 'Open the door! Open the door!' and no one's moving because they were scared," Yousuf told the news organization. "There was only one choice: Either we all stay there and we all die or I could either take the chance and get shot and save everyone else. And I jumped over, opened that latch and we got every one that we can out of there."

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