Maryland – Co-founder of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub has Baltimore ties

Ron Legler, who runs the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, co-founded Pulse, the Orlando nightclub that became the scene of a mass shooting that left at least 50 people dead. “It is devastating — the worst nightmare you could ever imagine,” Legler told The Baltimore Sun. He opened Pulse in 2004 with his friend Barbara Poma. The nightclub was opened as a tribute to Poma’s brother who had died of HIV. When Legler moved to Baltimore in 2014, he gave up ownership of the club. Legler told The Sun he “started getting text messages from people inside the club” but that “There are employees of the club we have not been able to reach.” Legler said he is “devastated and heartbroken,” and that he is “praying for my Pulse Orlando Family and for the City of Orlando,” in a Facebook post.