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J.K. Rowling Is Mourning A Harry Potter World Employee Who Died in the Orlando Shooting

By
Amanda Calvo
Amanda Calvo
and
TIME
TIME
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By
Amanda Calvo
Amanda Calvo
and
TIME
TIME
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June 13, 2016, 4:30 AM ET
J.K Rowling - In Conversation
Photograph by Ben A. Pruchnie Getty Images

Within hours of the Sunday morning attack on the gay Orlando nightclub Pulse, city officials began releasing the identities of victims. Luis Vielma was one of the 18 Orlando shooting victims whose identity has so far been confirmed in what is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history — one that left 50 dead and 53 injured.

It appears the 22-year-old worked at the Universal Studios’ Harry Potter theme park. Olga Glomba told the Orlando Sentinel that the two of them worked together and that he was “a funny, sweet, nerdy guy without a mean side. He just wanted to make people smile.”

Luis Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal. He was 22 years old. I can't stop crying. #Orlandopic.twitter.com/Nz2ZCWxNsS

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 13, 2016

People took to social media to express their grief—among them, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling herself. “Luis Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal. He was 22 years old. I can’t stop crying,” she wrote.

This story is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

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