Orlando shooting: Remembering Eddie

(FOX 11) - Josh Miller, who just hurried back from a San Francisco appearance, says, "It's good it's today and not yesterday!"

Yesterday, he says he was sobbing more than he wasn't. Miller says, "Eddie was one of my best friends." The two were longtime pals and, at one time, had a romantic relationship. Josh is an entertainer, a drag queen, who goes by the name Rhea. Eddie worked for an LGBT travel agency. He organized gay cruises out of his hometown of Sarasota, Florida. And, according to Josh, Eddie was a regular at Pulse... the nightclub that was the target of shooter Omar Mateen.

Miller says, "Pulse was a happy place for everyone… everyone was so happy to be there. Everyone was very engaging." He was there, just a month ago, doing a fashion show for designer Marco Marco. He works for that designer in Hollywood.

So now, in the days after the shooting, he imagines this place where the customers were like one big family. He imagines the massacre."To me it's like somebody going to somebody's family reunion and slaughtering everyone you love before your very own eyes. Your family. These are the people who were with each other every weekend. You knew their last name."

As he thinks of Sotomeyer, in that horrible moment, this is what crosses his mind.

"What hurts the most is that I hate the way he had to go. The fear he must have had. The tragedy of everything around him … and those were his last moments… how afraid he might have been… how afraid he was… that's the worst part of all of this. And, I have no doubt in my mind he was a hero the whole way through."

Copyright 2016 FOX 11 Los Angeles: Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Be a citizen journalist for FOX 11 and get paid - download the Fresco News App today.