Santos Rodriquez really thought his brother was joking — they do that a lot.
"Lmao," he texted back. "Lmao."
The first text from his brother Jeff, 37, had come in at 2:25 a.m. on Sunday.
"I beenx shot at club… dying I love you," the text read. "Dead bodies on top of me."
"Huh?" Santos Rodriquez texted as more desperate messages popped up — "Im bleeding" and "Im dying" and "Call mami."
It was only at after 3:30 a.m. that Santos Rodriquez realized it was no joke — his brother had been texting shot three times in the slaughter at Orlando's Pulse nightclub.
He's currently hospitalized and awaiting surgery; Santos Rodriquez has not been able to see him yet.
"I just want to see him and say like, I believe you now… I'm sorry that I didn't believe your text," he told NBC News.
Read the texts between the brothers below.
