Our Lives Since the 2016 Pulse Shooting: Christine Leinonen's and Brandon Wolf's Stories
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of conversations with those who have survived high-profile shootings or lost loved ones to them. The other interviews, as well as background about the series, can be found here.
Christopher Leinonen was charismatic and endlessly on the move. He grew up close to his mother, Christine, an attorney, former Michigan state trooper, and marathon runner who raised him alone. “We were the Chris Leinonen team,” she said, referring to the two of them. But she was proud, too, as he grew more independent, becoming a mental-health counselor and making friends—hundreds of them, in her estimation—in high school, college, and after graduation.
He took long road trips across the United States. Eventually, he and his boyfriend, Juan Guerrero, let Brandon Wolf join one of those trips—a sign he’d truly made it into the friend group, said Brandon. (Brandon, like many of Christopher’s friends and family, called Christopher “Drew,” which comes from his middle name.)
Christopher and Juan were two of the 49 people killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting on June 12th, 2016. It was the
