- At least 50 people are dead and 53 injured, police say.
- The gunman was killed by police following an hourslong hostage situation
- Police are calling the shooting a terror-related attack
- The suspect has been described as “organized and well-prepared”
In what police are calling the worst shooting in American history, a lone gunman killed 50 people and injured at least 53 others after opening fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Authorities say Omar Mateen stormed the downtown Pulse nightclub around 2 a.m. Sunday before taking dozens of people hostage and killing dozens more.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a press conference that SWAT officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, killing Mateen. Mina said Mateen “appeared to be carrying a rifle, an assault-type rifle and a handgun and had some type of device on him.”
Mateen, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, “was organized and well-prepared,” the FBI said, according to ABC News.
FBI agent Ron Hopper said the suspect may have had leanings toward extreme Islamic ideologies, the Orlando Sentinel reported. At 2 a.m., Mateen entered the club with an AR-15 type assault rifle. He began shooting, and at one point entered a gun fight with an armed, off-duty officer. Mateen left the building, then went back in, where the violence turned into a hostage situation, Mina said.
The type of gun used is the same legally obtainable weapon used in the Newtown massacre, the Colorado theater shooting, and the San Bernadino shooting, in which 14 people were killed.
Around 5 a.m., authorities decided to attempt to rescue the hostages, leading to a gunfire exchange that ended in the suspect’s death, Mina said. more
No comments:
Post a Comment