A former Democratic hopeful for Florida’s House of Representatives confessed to making up claims that she removed 77 bullets from Pulse nightclub victims, flatly admitting to state investigators that she lied about her dramatic response to the mass shooting.
Elizabeth McCarthy, 50, confessed to the Florida Department of Health that she lied about removing the bullets from nearly three dozen victims after the June 2016 nightclub shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 others, according to a charging affidavit obtained by FloridaPolitics.com.
“I lied,” McCarthy told an investigator, according to documents released by the agency Wednesday. “It is a false statement.”
McCarthy was introduced in late March as a physician by US Rep. Darren Soto while speaking during a gun safety town hall in Orlando, where she was joined by a Pulse survivor and a sheriff, video shows.
“It’s probably one of the hardest things of my career to work through,” McCarthy said. “I personally removed 77 bullets from 32 victims … It was like an assembly line.”
McCarthy later withdrew from the race for Florida’s House District 28 after the website investigated her claims and found no record with state health officials of her being a doctor — or any physician who worked at Orlando Regional Medical Center by that name.
“I wanted to be somebody in the community, and I’m sorry,” McCarthy told a Florida Department of Health investigator. “I’m sorry that I gave any impersonation. I knew it was wrong and I should have stopped – by no means did I ever mean to put anybody in jeopardy.”
McCarthy, of Sanford, could not be reached for comment Monday. She’s now facing a fine of $3,094 for lying about being a doctor and is barred from telling anyone else that she is a physician, FloridaPolitics.com reports.
The Seminole County Democratic Party had previously called on McCarthy to drop out of the race unless she provided proof of her medical background. State health records show she was a registered nurse in Florida until 2005 when her license expired. She then ran a company called Medical Concierge from 2009 through 2014, FloridaPolitics.com reports.