Tim Tebow Visits Former Football Teammate Recovering From Orlando Shooting

By Julie Brown Patton
Tim Tebow with Orlando Victim
Former Florida Gator quarterback Tim Tebow left his vacation in the Bahamas to visit former high school teammate Rodney Sumter Jr., who was shot three times in the Orlando nightclub attack earlier this month. Instagram

Heisman trophy winner and college football analyst Tim Tebow and Rodney Sumter Jr. were high school teammates at Nease High in Ponte Vedra, Fla. While the two went different career paths in recent years, Tebow still flew to Sumter's side as he recovered from massive wounds inflicted on him during the shooting massacre that happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando earlier this month.

Sumter was tending bar at Pulse nightclub on the night of the attack. He was shot three times and both arms were broken. Sumter was visited by Tebow at Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to the Florida Times Union and what he has posted on his Instagram account.

On Sumter's Instagram account, he wrote: "My high school quarterback left the Bahamas to come and see me. Tebow has always been an awesome person."

Sumter played football at Jacksonville University and then moved to Orlando, working as a dancer and bartender, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Sumter has remained upbeat since the shooting and often posts Bible verses on his Instagram account: "No weapons formed against me shall prosper. Life changing experience and I don't want to do anything but share my testimony and turn my life over to the lord. I don't have my phone so I can't respond to you all through text or Facebook just yet. ... But thank you so so so much for the heavy support that I have received. It definitely hasn't gone unnoticed."

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Sumter also posted a photo with Orlando City captain Kaká, former baseball star Johnny Damon and Florida Gov. Rick Scott. A number of sports stars and others have been visiting the hospital to check on the victims.

Sumter had many people on Facebook offering encouraging words. One was Candice Moody, who said although she didn't know him personally, she had close friends posting about him and that she had seen his story on the news. "Keep fighting! You have lots of people praying for you!"

Sylvia Walker posted she was praying for him and "glad his life was spared."

Sumter, 27, according to CNN affiliate WFTV, attempted to flee when the shooting began, but was shot once in each arm, and once in his back -- half an inch from his spine. He was saved by another club patron that night:  Joshua McGill, a nursing student.

After McGill used his shirt to make a tourniquet for Sumter's wounded arms and holding him tightly to stop the bleeding on his back, he helped Sumter to safety. He then rode with him to the hospital to keep pressure on the wounds.

"'I promise you, God's got this. You'll be OK,'" McGill said to Sumter, reports CNN.

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