As Funerals Begin, Family & Friends Remember Couple Killed In Orlando Massacre

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ORLANDO (CBSMiami) – Family and friends of Luis Wilson and Jean Carlos Mendez are celebrating their lives and their love.

It's just one of many funerals for the 49 victims of the Orlando mass shooting that are scheduled to take place in the coming days.

"He was all around a great type of person. I never seen him upset. He was always smiling, always laughing," said Noelani Hernandez.

Hernandez is the aunt of Jean Carlos Mendez.

She said Mendez filled his days with happiness and spent 10 years with his partner, Wilson.

The couple was murdered inside the Pulse nightclub Sunday morning.

"He just all around enjoyed life to the fullest," she said. "To have something like this happen to him and especially with someone that he loved, it's a tragedy."

As Mendez and Wilson are laid to rest in a joint service, we are learning more about the rescue efforts of first responders during the shooting that claimed 49 lives and left dozens more injured.

"It was just hordes of individuals that fled into the streets, into Orange Avenue, running in various directions. Some of them carrying victims that had been shot in this tragedy," said Orlando Fire District Chief Bryan Davis.

Davis said paramedics and rescuers put their lives on the line. They treated victims while an active shooter, Omar Mateen, continued to kill people inside the club and while there were threats of explosives.

"It's a sad moment for us. It's a tragedy but these guys should be proud of what they did. There were a lot of lives that were saved," he said.

Davis said first responders are receiving counseling. He added that it was their training for mass casualty incidents like this one that helped them navigate the chaos.

Hernandez wishes her nephew was still here. She feels for all the victims, their families and especially for the survivors.

"For the survivors, it's even worse because that's going to stay with them. Friends that they were with, family that was there. It's really hard," she said.