An attack that claimed 50 or more lives and left dozens wounded has been labeled the worst mass shooting attack in US history. After hours of revelry, the party-goers crowding a nightclub took their last sips before the place closed.
That’s when authorities say Omar Mateen emerged, carrying an AR-15 and spraying the helpless crowd with bullets. Witnesses said he fired relentlessly — 20 rounds, 40, then 50 and more. In such tight quarters, the bullets could hardly miss. He shot at police. He took hostages.
When the gunfire finally stopped, 50 people were dead and dozens more were critically wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Mateen, who law enforcement officials said had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a 911 call around the time of the attack, died in a gun battle with SWAT team members.
Authorities immediately began investigating whether the assault was an act of terrorism and probing the background of Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, who had worked as a security guard.
Thirty-nine of the dead were killed at the club, and 11 people died at hospitals, Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
Jon Alamo had been dancing at the Pulse for hours when he wandered into the club’s main room just in time to see the gunman. “You ever seen how Marine guys hold big weapons, shooting from left to right? That’s how he was shooting at people,” he said.
“My first thought was, oh my God, I’m going to die,” Alamo said. “I was praying to God that I would live to see another day.”
Pulse patron Eddie Justice texted his mother, Mina: “Mommy I love you. In club they shooting.” About 30 minutes later, hiding in a bathroom, he texted her: “He’s coming. I’m gonna die.” As Sunday wore on, she awaited word on his fate.
At least 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition, and a surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb.
The previous deadliest mass shooting in the US was the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech, where a student killed 32 people before killing himself.
Mateen’s family was from Afghanistan, and he was born in New York. His family later moved to Florida, authorities said.
His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters that her former husband was bipolar and “mentally unstable.”
Mateen was short-tempered and had a history with steroids, she said in remarks televised from Boulder, Colorado. She described him as religious but not radical. He wanted to be a police officer and applied to a police academy, but she had no details.
The couple was together for only four months, and the two had no contact for the last seven or eight years, she said.
A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the club in which he professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The official was familiar with the investigation, but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The extremist group did not officially claim responsibility for the attack, but the IS-run Aamaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the attack was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.
Even if the attacker supported IS, it was unclear whether the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand.
Mateen was not unknown to law enforcement: In 2013, he made inflammatory comments to co-workers and was interviewed twice, according to FBI agent Ronald Hopper, who called the interviews inconclusive. In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber, but the agent described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time.
Asked if the gunman had a connection to radical Islamic terrorism, Hopper said authorities had “suggestions that individual has leanings towards that.”
Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The Orlando shooting started about 2 AM, with more than 300 people inside the Pulse.
“He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance,” said Jackie Smith, who saw two friends next to her get shot. “I just tried to get out of there.”
At 2:09 AM, Pulse posted on its Facebook page: “Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running.”
Club-goer Rob Rick said the shooting started just as “everybody was drinking their last sip.”
When he heard shots, Rick dropped to the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth. A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area where only workers were allowed. People were then able to escape through the back of the club.
Mateen exchanged gunfire with 14 police officers at the club, and took hostages at one point. In addition to the assault rifle, the shooter also had a handgun and some sort of “suspicious device,” the police chief said. About 5 AM, authorities sent in a SWAT team to rescue the remaining club-goers, Police Chief John Mina said.
At first, officers mistakenly thought the gunman had strapped explosives to the dead after a bomb robot sent back images of a battery part next to a body, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. That prevented paramedics from going in until authorities determined the battery was something that fell out of an exit sign or a smoke detector, he said.
The robot was sent in after SWAT team members put explosive charges on a wall and an armored vehicle knocked it down in an effort to rescue hostages.
Just before 6 AM, the Pulse posted an update on its Facebook: “As soon as we have any information, we will update everyone. Please keep everyone in your prayers as we work through this tragic event. Thank you for your thoughts and love.”
Authorities were looking into whether the shooter acted alone, according to Danny Banks, an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Video: Trump renews push for Muslim ban following Orlando shooting
Terrorists are making their own guns now, such as the Carlo that was used in the Tel Aviv shooting. So all you will do is ensure that only terrorists will have the guns.
TRUMP’S OUR MAN!
vote for trump, period! please tell your friends & family to vote for trump, this has gone to far, DO NOT vote for Hillary! shes a total disaster!! shes weak, she has poor judgment, shes not a friend of Israel, weak on immigration! people are pouring in through the border & we don’t know who they are. they could be isis, criminals, drug dealers and much more!! please vote for trump if you want safty and security
gun control is important, but there are laws how to get it. there are many people in america who have guns illegally so it wouldnt be safe if regular people (who passed a security test) couldnt have guns.
Also- he chose that specific club for a reason. not posting here because there are kids, but look it up.
Nobama’s words are so meaningless. for one reason. Because he basically wants to see this country go down the drain and become a muslim country. Tragedies like these spell success to him. May he have his well earned mapoloh very soon!
trump is our best option out of the two
It turns out that no official source EVER said he had an AR-15. Not that it would have mattered if he had, since the AR-15 is no more dangerous than any other rifle, but it shows you what liars these reporters are. First they invented a blood libel against the AR-15, convincing people that it’s an assault rifle and that it’s particularly dangerous, and then every time there’s an incident they just say it was used, whether it was or not.
wow thx for sharing! i never thought of it that way
No cause the pencil was not the one that didn’t study it was the person who held the pencil a gun can be tossed left alone for a hundred years and not fire so don’t blame the gun cause the bad guys will get either way either legally or illegally so if a good dude has a gun he will kill the bad dude so if you think banning guns is a good idea than get out from under your rock you live in and face reality or stay under your rock and go for HILLIRAY 2016 And for a… Read more »
An interesting perspective on gun control: “Today I swung my front door wide open and placed my Remington 30.06 on the deck rail. I left six cartridges beside it, then left it alone and went about my business. While I was gone, the mailman delivered my mail, my neighbor across the street mowed the yard, a girl walked her dog down the street, and quite a few cars stopped at the stop sign near the front of my house. After about an hour, I checked on the gun. It was still sitting there, right where I had left it. It… Read more »
Oh, you mean like France? Which BTW just had another terrorist attack the day after Orlando?
SO DO CARS, KNIVES HANDS, SIDEWALKS THE LIST GOES ON AND ON DO WE BAN EVERYTHING THAT HAS EVER KILLED SOMEONE? OR DO WE PUNISH PEOPLE FOR THE CRIME AND TRY TO PREVENT THEM! TIME TO BLAME THE PEOPLE
Keep Them Out.
Fox is the only station that reports that his parents immigrated from Afghanistan. The others don’t want to mention this because then people will realize that there are major issues with accepting refugees from middle eastern terror countries. The children continue the legacy.
The reason why there are no mass shootings in israel is bec the civilians also have guns.
What has the world come to??
When tragedy strikes “one of our own,” the comments flood with cries of empathy and pain, but when it’s “the other,” we’re only concerned enough to discuss gun regulation, to think abstractly on a level of how could this directly impact us, and we seem to forget that all those murdered and maimed are somebody’s children…
Think of the great Miracles that happened when there is a shooting in Israel. Nowhere near such an amount of deaths. Boruch Hashem
“He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance,” said Jackie Smith,
Jackie Smith, whoever she is, has no idea what she’s talking about. He did not have an automatic rifle. Those are extremely expensive, and difficult to get, and are NEVER used by criminals.
And commenter #1 has no idea what he’s talking about either. Countries that try to ban guns still have mass murders. And in fact when you adjust for demographics the USA’s violent crime rate is LOWER than that of most countries, because many people have the means to protect themselves.
the man speaking at 11 minutes in said something similar to what the rebbes approach was. we as yidden and chassidim believe that there is goodness and elokus behind everything in the world and the bad is only a helem vi hester on it. so the rebbe told media personal that they owe to the world to report positive news and good news because when you always only hear bad you end up thinking “wow this world is crazy” when in essence there is so much good as we approach moshiachs era. when was the last time boy helped ol… Read more »
Muslim guy commits act of terror in the name of Islam.
Who’s responsible?
I’ll tell you who!
Guns, Republicans, Christians, Conservatives and “haters”.
I can’t possibly think of anyone else who would commit such a heinous act of terror.
All other religions are totally peaceful.
when this happens in the US they use terrorist but Israel there not terrorist ?
messed up media.
Perp killed.
Correct your title.
You are obviously jumping to put out the usual liberat democrat agenda. This guy did not have a concealed weapons permit. He had an open carry permit that allowed him to work as a security guard. Real question is why the liberal leaning govt we had allowed him to get that permit after he was questioned twice by the FBI. The usual screaming about guns is the usual BS stories. People kill not Guns and people who are 99 percent of Moslem decent commit the vast majority of terrorist attacks in the WORLD. So stop the nonsense of gun control… Read more »
Sir in comment 1,
The assault rifle he had is already banned! The people that use guns to kill will get them anyways!! Imagine if it where easier to get a gun.. he would have been stopped before he got around to killing 50 people!!
This nutjob was a security guard. He passed a background check. He was investigated by the FBI twice. What more do you want? How did he get stopped? With a gun.
The club was a gun free zone. Now why in the world would he pick that club? My goodness! He shouldn’t have brought his guns there in the first place!
This is a horrible tragedy. Imagine if half those people had been carrying a concealed weapon? How quickly could they have taken him down rather than waiting for cops to arrive.
When seconds count, cops are only minutes away.
So with all this gun argument, I thought I’d weigh in. In Australia, we successfully banned guns after a mass shooting and haven’t had a mass shooting since in YEARS. But there’s way too many guns, including many unlicensed guns in the USA, and unsecure borders, that banning guns would spell disaster.
Did you already forget what happened in france
If it wasn’t a gun it could have been a bomb. Guns don’t kill people. people kill people
Criminals will always get guns. If there had been an armed guard it would have helped.
It may be legal to buy these guns, but it’s still easier and cheaper to get them illegally and there all over the place, the only way to eliminate gun violence in U.S is for civilians to carry hand guns, he held the place up for 3 hours, he wasn’t shooting for 3 hours straight if someone had been armed in there it would’ve ended sooner, gun free zones are like fun zones for these terrorists, target practice…
BDE this is horrible. We need to increase in our Torah learning and mitzvos, especially after Shavuos to bring moshiach right now!
WHAT A LOW LIFE AND BIG LOOSER!!!!!! HE’S A SICK MAN……BUT ITS NOTHING NEW TO THOSE ANIMALS…..WHAT WILL MAKE CHANGE???
and yet, people will continue to claim that “guns don’t kill, only people kill.” Wake up Americans – look around the world. All the other first world countries who banned guns, or have very strict laws, GOT RID OFF MASS SHOOTINGS! Yes, it’s that simple.