A shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub early Sunday morning has been described as a "domestic terror incident" with 50 fatalities...
A shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub early Sunday morning has been described as a "domestic terror incident" with 50 fatalities and 53 injured, hospitalized individuals, officials said.
The shooter has been identified by officials as Omar Mateen of St. Lucie County, Florida.
FBI assistant agent in charge of the agency's Tampa division, Ron Hopper, was asked at a news conference on Sunday at 7 a.m. if the shooter, who was shot and killed by police, had ties to Jihadist terror groups.
"At this time we're looking at all angles right now," the official said. "We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say definitively, so we’re still running everything around.”
The FBI also said the shooter "was organized and well-prepared," adding "he is not from this area."
A police officer working at the club responded to shots fired at 2:02 a.m., and the officer then exchanged fire with the gunman, officials said at the news conference.
It then turned into "a hostage situation," when the gunman went inside the club and took hostages. The gunman had an assault rifle, handgun and "some kind of device on him," officials said. At approximately 5 a.m., the SWAT team made the decision to rescue the hostages, officials said. The shooter was killed in a gunfight with those officers.
There were about 320 people inside the club at the time of the shootings, officials said.
Then at 5:53 a.m. Orlando police tweeted, "The shooter inside the nightclub is dead," referring to Pulse Nightclub, which bills itself on its website as "Orlando's Premier Gay Night Club."
"This can be classified as a domestic terror incident," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said at the news conference.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating this morning's shooting as "an act of terrorism." It said it will determine if it is "domestic or international" terrorism.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said at the news conference that "many lives were lost." Orlando Chief of Police John Mina added that "approximately" 20 people we killed, and "at least 42 people" were transported to various hospitals. In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos following the news conference, Dyer clarified the initial figure, saying the number of dead was "probably in excess of 20 dead."
Orlando Regional Medical Center, located near the nightclub, said it received "several gunshot victims," in a statement released at 5 a.m.
The statement read, "Orlando Regional Medical Center was placed on lockdown around 2:00 a.m. after receiving several gunshot victims. Only essential workers are being allowed access into the building. Out of an abundance of caution, Arnold Palmer Hospital and Winnie Palmer Hospital have also been placed on lockdown."
See below video of a short snapchat video taken during the senseless shooting.
With all credits to ABC News
