A mass shooting has taken place in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries, police said, adding that the shooter was killed by a SWAT team. According to officials, the incident can be classified as “a domestic terror incident.”
READ MORE: Deadliest mass shooting in US history: 49 dead, 53 injured in Orlando gay club massacre
15 June 2016
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has made a $1 million donation to the Dallas police department for “enhanced counterterrorism efforts,” including increased police presence in the Oak Lawn neighborhood, WFAA-TV reported Wednesday.
The money will be used for approximately 16,000 hours of overtime for the Dallas PD, said Mayor Mike Rawlings.
"These funds will be used primarily to protect the LGBT community,” said Dallas PD chief David Brown. “We will earmark and track the expenditure of these funds to ensure its effective use in creating a safe environment."
Orlando attacker Omar Mateen was "administratively dismissed" from his job at the Martin Correctional Institution in April 2007, after bringing a gun to work, Palm Beach Post reported citing a source at the Florida Department of Corrections.
Shortly after the massacre, some experts criticized the slow police response to the situation, stressing that quick action is vital in mass shootings.
An expert on active-shooter tactics, Chris Grollnek, who is a retired police officer and SWAT team member, told the Associated Press that “action beats inaction 100 percent of the time.”
However, as the editor-in-chief of the law enforcement resource website PoliceOne, Doug Wyllie, told RT, Orlando law enforcement acted within protocol, potentially saving more lives.
“Things can change very quickly,” he said. “That’s precisely what happened in the wee hours of Sunday morning. As soon as the shooting stops and you are given information that there is a hostage situation, active penetration into the site is not recommended. In fact, you potentially jeopardize the lives of those hostages if you try and conduct that continued active shooter response.”
“What you then have is a hostage situation that requires a lot of negotiation, communication, discussion among the teams,” Wyllie added.
14 June 2016
Federal prosecutors have called a grand jury in order to bring charges against Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, for being an accessory to 49 counts of murder and 53 counts of attempted murder, failing to report a planned terror attack, and lying to the FBI agents, Fox News reported, citing the agency’s source.
The unnamed source has also said that Salman is likely to be arrested.
Reporters in Orlando are apparently trying so hard to get a comment from law enforcement officers, the police is warning them to back off.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara confirmed that the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was one of the guards working at the courthouse in 2013, but was reassigned following a complaint about inflammatory comments.
President Obama called the Orlando killer an “angry, disturbed young man who became radicalized” by “extremist propaganda from the internet.”
“Their propaganda, their videos are pervasive, and more easily accessible than we want,” Obama said, speaking after a regular meeting with senior US officials to discuss the ongoing terror war.
Attacks by lone actors or small cells are "very hard to detect and prevent,” the president said. “Across our government, federal state local, we are doing everything we can to stop these attacks. An attacker only has to succeed once. Our law enforcement have prevented many attacks and saved many lives. Despite the extraordinary hard work, something like Orlando can occur.”
Noor Mateen, wife of the Orlando nightclub attacker, is "cooperating with investigators," NBC News reported.
She told the FBI she was with Mateen when he bought ammunition and a holster, and admitted driving him to the Pulse nightclub on one occasion, the network reported citing officials familiar with the case said.
Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against Noor for failing to warn the government about the attack, but no decision has been made yet, NBC News said.
The Orlando nightclub shooter was executing the wounded, one of the survivors told reporters at the hospital press conference.
"He was shooting everyone who was already dead on the floor, making sure they were dead," said Angel Colon, who was shot in the hand and the hip.
The US has called on UN member states to protect members of the LGBT community worldwide. Speaking at the UN General Assembly session, deputy US Ambassador David Pressman said outrage over the Orlando shooting should be directed at protecting members of the LGBT community, "not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them," AP reported. Earlier, the UN Security Council members condemned in the strongest terms the attack "targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation" and conveyed their "deepest sympathies and condolences" to the victims and their families.
Walt Disney Co. stepped up security at its theme parks on Monday after the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.
"Unfortunately we’ve all been living in a world of uncertainty, and during this time we have increased our security measures across our properties, adding such visible safeguards as magnetometers, additional canine units, and law enforcement officers on site," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler told Reuters.
Heightened security measures also include deploying dog units as well as random search of visitors’ bags. Orlando is home to Disneyworld, America’s best known tourist destination.
Former CIA Director Ambassador James Woolsey has accused the Obama administration of avoiding the topic of radical Islam in a conversation about the Orlando shooting. Calling it a “big shortcoming” in an interview to Fox Business, Woolsey said: “You can’t fight successfully against something you won’t accurately describe. It would be as if we tried to fight World War II without saying ‘Nazi.’”
According to the former director, the United States should take a more proactive role, if it wishes to combat threats to it more effectively.
“We have got to realize we are at war. We have got to go into action like we did in World War II. We’ve got to get the best of America on dealing with something like the dark web, and figure out how to get out in front…we’ve got to get at least that good in terms of dealing with those who may be on the verge of committing crimes of the sort we saw in Orlando,” he concluded.
13 June 2016
The owner of a Port St. Lucie gun store where the Orlando attacker bought his rifle and handgun told reporters he was observing the rules to the letter.
“We follow the rules, we don’t make the rules,” Ed Henson of St. Lucie Shooting Center said. He urged reporters to inquire at the Florida Department of Agriculture for Omar Mateen’s license documentation. “He’s evil. We just happen to be the gun store he picked.”
Even a police officer in full uniform could not buy a gun without a background check, Henson said. He had no recollection of anyone trying to buy body armor, he added, but remembered the attacker coming in to buy the rifle and the handgun on two separate occasions.
Orlando Police Department has declined to release the recordings or transcripts of the 911 calls involving the attacker, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
Several news outlets have reported on three 911 calls between Omar Mateen and a dispatcher, in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State and brought up the Boston Marathon bombers, and a US suicide bomber for the Al-Nusra Front in Syria. The reports cited unnamed law enforcement sources, and have received no official confirmation.
90 percent of the victims of the shooting were Latinos, and more than half were of Puerto Rican origin, Rolando Padua, deputy secretary of state for the Puerto Rican government, has told Reuters by telephone, while noting that he was still waiting for a final, complete list of victims.
Meanwhile, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto said that three of the victims were of Mexican origin.
The Orlando shooter had bought a Sig Sauer .221 caliber rifle at a firearms shop near his Florida home on June 4, and a Glock 17 at the same store the day later,the Daily Beast reported citing a senior law enforcement source.
Omar Mateen had returned to the store a third time on June 9, to buy ammunition.
Five of the victims shot at the Orlando nightclub on Sunday are still in "grave condition," Orlando Regional Medical Center said Monday, adding that 29 people are still being treated at the hospital and "a number of patients remain critically ill and in shock."
The authorities have identified 48 out of 49 dead so far. Initial reports of 50 dead included the attacker.
The Orlando attacker made two 911 calls and the dispatcher then called him back, for a total of three calls, FBI director James Comey told reporters Monday.
In the course of the calls, the attacker said he was doing this for Islamic State, but also mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers and a US citizen who became a suicide bomber for the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, leaving "some confusion about the motives," Comey said.
The FBI director confirmed the Bureau had interviewed Omar Mateen twice, in 2013 and 2014, first regarding inflammatory statements reported by his coworkers and then about a possible connection with the suicide bomber. The first probe was dropped after Mateen said he had made the comments in anger over discrimination for being a Muslim, and the second was dropped after "no ties of any consequences" to the suicide bomber were found.
"I don't see anything that our agents should have done differently," Comey said, adding that the FBI has the thankless job of looking for needles in a haystack, as well as figuring out "what pieces of hay might become needles."
Orlando nightclub attacker Omar Mateen scouted Walt Disney World as a potential target, People magazine reported citing a federal law enforcement source.
Mateen's wife Noor Zahi Salman reportedly told federal authorities on Sunday that she and her husband had visited Walt Disney World in April, and that Mateen was scouting the venue for an attack.
The Orlando attack was similar to San Bernardino insofar as the attacker was not part of a larger plot, but rather a “homegrown” extremist, President Barack Obama said Monday, after meeting with a FBI Director James Comey.
“We see no clear evidence that he was directed externally” or that he was part of a larger plot, Obama said.
While the particular motive of the attacker is still unknown, the organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, who have "perverted Islam," have intolerant attitudes towards gays and lesbians, Obama added.
US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Americans against assigning blame, after an attacker who pledged allegiance to ISIS murdered 49 people and injured 53 at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday.
“The worst thing we can do is engage in trying to point fingers at one group or one form of sectarianism or another or one religion or another. Those are not the values of our country,” Kerry told reporters before a meeting with his Cypriot colleague Ioannis Kasoulides.
Leaders of the US Senate Democrats are discussing how to revive a push for additional gun controls after Sunday’s attack at the Orlando gay nightclub, Reuters reported citing a senior Democratic staffer.
The Senate will be back in session on Tuesday.
Omar Mateen has committed an act of terrorism that goes against the family’s principles, his father Seddique Mir Mateen said during a press briefing. He stressed that he disapproved of his son "doing anything against the homeland.”
"As a father, it’s painful but I don’t approve of his act. What he did was an act of [terrorism], which is against my principles [and] against what I taught him," he told journalists.
Orlando shooter Omar Mateen traveled to Mecca on pilgrimage at least twice, Saudi Major General Mansour Al-Turki said, as cited by CNN Arabic.
He visited the holy city to perform the so-called Umrah, a pilgrimage that can be taken at any time of the year, Al-Turki said, adding that Mateen spent 10 days there in March 2011 and eight days in March 2012.
At least four people were arrested and one man reportedly injured as police dispersed an unsanctioned rally held in New York City in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando shooting in Florida. A vigil was held outside the historic Stonewall Inn on Sunday night. It was followed by an unauthorized march to Union Square and then to Time Square, where the participants scuffled with police.
When police were negotiating with the suspect and he started talking about explosives, they decided to act and launched an operation, police said.
The suspect initially barricaded himself in the bathroom with four to five hostages, police officials said.
Orlando police confirmed the number of people killed in the shooting was 50. They added that 49 of them were shooting victims plus the gunman Omar Mateen.
Orlando police have released at least 23 names of those killed in the Pulse nightclub attack. The youngest victim so far is 20 years old, while the oldest is 50.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Orlando gay nightclub shooting that killed at least 50 people and injured 53, according to the terror group’s Albayan Radio station. They called Omar Mateen “one of the Caliphate's soldiers in America.”
Residents at the Ft. Pierce apartment complex are being allowed to return to their flats after the authorities cleared the perimeter. No explosives were found in the apartment after FBI evidence specialists arrived Sunday night to Mateen's condominium to see if the place was booby-trapped and also to collect evidence.
A spokeswoman for security firm G4S says that the company conducted background checks on Mateen in 2007 and 2013 which produced “no findings” of suspicious activities.
Sitora Yusufiy, former wife of the Orlando gunman, told CNN that Omar Mateen was emotionally and mentally unstable and that family members had to “rescue” her from her ex-husband during their divorce.
12 June 2016
A former coworker says the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen frequently made racist and homophobic comments, but the company chose not to act on repeated complaints because Mateen was Muslim.
“I quit because everything he said was toxic,” Daniel Gilroy, a former Fort Pierce police officer who worked with G4S Security for several months in 2014-15, told USA Today, “and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people.”
Gilroy said he complained to his employer several times but G4S did nothing because it did not want to be accused of Islamophobia, USA Today reported.
The vigil for Orlando victims in New York has turned into a street march.
Emotions run high at the vigil for Orlando victims in front of New York's landmark Stonewall Inn.
As law enforcement agents search the residence of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen, people who knew him offer somewhat contradictory testimonies about his past.
The imam of a Florida mosque that Mateen attended for almost a decade describes him as a quiet, lonely man.
“He hardly had any friends,” Syed Shafeeq Rahman, head of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, told Reuters. “He would come with his little son at night to pray and after he would leave.”
A high-school classmate, however, described Matteen as a typical American teenager, who played football and was gregarious and talkative.
“He clearly was not anti-(gay) at least not back then. He did not show any hatred to any of us. He treated us all like the individuals we were. He always smiled and said hello,” said Samuel King, who last saw Mateen in 2009.
Public records show Mateen had a state firearms license that expired in 2013 and a permit to work as a security guard, Reuters reported, adding he was registered as a Democrat.
Meanwhile, in New York City, hundreds have gathered for a vigil in front of the historic Stonewall Inn, the site of a 1969 riot considered the beginning of the LGBT rights movement in the US.
Orlando authorities have also requested the community to "hold off on vigils," describing them as a "serious strain to our limited resources."
The city of Orlando has begun releasing the names of the victims, as their next of kin are being notified.
Six victims have been identified so far:
- Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34
- Stanley Almodovar III, 23
- Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20
- Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22
- Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36
- Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22
Santa Monica, California police identified the man arrested earlier today with weapons and explosives as James Howell of Indiana. There was "no known connection" to events in Orlando, Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
"This is a hate crime," Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said at a press conference. "We condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
"You do not speak for us. You do not represent us. You are an aberration. You are an outlaw," Awad said, addressing the so-called Islamic State, to which the Orlando shooter reportedly pledged allegiance.
The attack "should not be used to vilify" peaceful Muslims in North America, said Rizwan Jaka, president of an Islamic community in Virginia.
It is "totally unislamic to do such a ghastly act," regardless of where it happened, said Naim Beig of the Islamic Circle of North America.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to his US counterpart Barack Obama and to all US citizens with regards to the Orlando tragedy, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
“The head of the Russian state stressed that Russia shares the pain and grief of those, who lost their loved ones in this barbaric crime, and hopes for the early recovery of those injured,” the statement says.
After the FBI dismissed their 2013 and 2014 interviews with Orlando shooter Omar Mateen as "inconclusive," the Bureau interviewed him again later about his contacts with Moner Mohammad Abusalha, the first US citizen to carry out a suicide bombing in Syria, AFP reported.
"We determined the contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or a threat at that time," FBI Special Agent Ronald Hopper told reporters.
Omar Mateen was acting alone, an FBI official said during the press briefing, adding that the investigators are not looking for any second suspect.
President Barack Obama has ordered the US flag to be flown at half-staff until June 16, "at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels... and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions."
The Stars and Stripes will also be flown at half-staff at "all embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations."
RT America spoke with some of the participants at the Los Angeles Pride, following reports of a man who was arrested with weapons and explosives while headed there.
FBI first became aware of Mateen in 2013, when he made derogatory and inflammatory comments to his co-workers, alleging possible terrorist ties, an FBI official told journalists during the briefing. The FBI interviewed him twice in 2013 but was unable to verify the substance of his comments. Mateen was then once again questioned by the FBI in 2014 about his possible connections to a known US terrorist suicide bomber, the official said, adding that the questioning revealed that their contacts were minimal and Mateen had not been considered a threat.
During a press briefing, an FBI official confirmed that Mateen called 911 and “stated his allegiance to Islamic State.”
The nightclub attacker legally bought two guns last week, federal officials said, and Orlando police confirmed.
The suspect "purchased a handgun and a long rifle within the last few days," Trevor Velinor, assistant special agent in charge at the ATF Tampa Field Division, told reporters at a briefing.
Forty-three people injured in the Orlando shooting who are being treated in the ORMC hospital have been identified, hospital authorities said, adding that 26 surgeries have been carried out on the victims of the mass shooting, Reuters reported.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed information that a heavily armed man was stopped as he was heading towards the LA Pride Festival. Speaking at the event, Garcetti said that the man had been arrested, adding at the same time that the LA incident appeared to be unrelated to Orlando shooting.
US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said, “all Americans are horrified, disgusted and saddened” by the horrific massacre that occurred in Orlando.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Orlando shooting, Reuters reports, citing a news agncy affiliated with the terrorist organization.
"The armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida which left over 100 people dead or injured was carried out by an Islamic State fighter," a news agency affiliated with Islamic State said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
US President Barack Obama has denounced the Orlando shooting as an “act of terror and an act of hate,” stressing that it was “the most deadly shooting in American history.” At the same time, he said that the investigation has “reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivation of the killer,” as he spoke to the journalists during a press briefing.
Pope Francis condemned the "terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando," CNBC News reports, citing the Vatican.
G4S, a British multinational security services company, has confirmed it employed Orlando shooter Omar Mateen in its statement, cited by CBS News.
“We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub. We can confirm that Omar Mateen had been employed with G4S since September 10, 2007. We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation,” the company said, as quoted by CBS.
A law enforcement official, who identified himself as a 911 operator, has confirmed that the Orlando shooter called 911 and declared his allegiance to Islamic State before the incident, CBS News reports.
A man carrying assault rifles, ammunition and possible explosives in his vehicle has been stopped by Los Angeles police. The driver said he was heading for the LA Pride festival in West Hollywood, US media reported. No connection has been traced between this incident and the Orlando shooting so far.
Following the Orlando shooting, Democratic US Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania urged Congress to ban military-grade weapons and to stop selling firearms to suspected extremists.
"It's time for Congress to finally act on gun violence and ban military-style weapons, put limits on clips and magazine sizes, ban those on the terrorist watchlist from purchasing firearms and require background checks on all gun sales," Casey said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
The Orlando shooter called 911 and swore allegiance to Islamic State shortly before the attack, NBC news reported citing anonymous sources.
The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, had been on law enforcement’s radar for the past five years, CBS reported citing its sources. However, no formal investigation was ever opened. Mateen previously worked as a security guard.
There is no immediate evidence proving any connection between the Orlando shooting and Islamic State or any other foreign extremist organization, US officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
French President Francois Hollande has "condemned with horror'' the mass killing in Florida. He "expressed the full support of France and the French with America's authorities and its people in this difficult time," a statement from the Elysee Palace says.
US Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen "made a pledge of allegiance” to Islamic State and was “heard praying in a foreign language.”
Earlier, Senator Bill Nelson also talked about the alleged links between Mateen and Islamic terrorists.
"I asked the FBI if there was any connection to Islamic radicalism. There appears to be. But they are naturally cautious and waiting throughout to see if if this is [in fact true]," Nelson said at a news conference on Sunday.
Mir Seddique, the Afghan immigrant father of the suspected shooter, says it is intolerance of homosexuality, and not affiliations with radical Islam, that likely provoked the attack.
"This has nothing to do with religion," he told NBC, stating that he was “in shock like the whole country.”
He went on to relate a “recent incident” that demonstrated his son’s attitudes.
"We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music. And he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry. They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, 'Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.' And then we were in the men's bathroom and men were kissing each other."
“Violent homegrown radicalization” is the greatest challenge US law enforcement authorities face, US Senator Marco Rubio said in a statement on the Orlando mass shooting.
A Twitter account affiliated with Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) has published a photo it claims to be of Omar Mateen. He was earlier identified as the Orlando nightclub shooter, Reuters reports.
"The man who carried out the Florida nightclub attack which killed 50 people and injured dozens," the caption accompanying the photo read. There was no official Islamic State statement.
With 50 people dead, the Orlando shooting has become the deadliest massacre in US history, eclipsing the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech University, which left 32 dead.
The shooter was of Afghan descent and had weapons training, Peter King, US congressman and chairman of the House subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence, told US media.
The suspect behind the shooting has been identified as 29-year-old US citizen Omar Mateen, US media reported. The CBS network added that the FBI is currently checking whether he was linked to extremists.
The process of removing the victims from the club continues, according to the Orange county sheriff. Some victims of the shooting are undergoing surgery with a number of them in critical condition, hospital officials told journalists during the briefing, Reuters reports.
Both the Florida governor and the city of Orlando has declared a state of emergency following the deadly shooting.
Fifty people plus the shooter have been killed and 53 more injured in the Orlando night club shooting, the city mayor Buddy Dyer said during the press briefing.
US President Barack Obama has ordered the government to provide all necessary aid to local law enforcement officials investigating the shooting as well as to support the local community. The president was briefed on the shooting and “asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials,” the White House said in a statement, adding that “our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims.”
The suspect behind the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, which left dozens dead and injured, has been identified as Omar Mateen, the CBS network reported, citing sources. The channel added that the FBI is currently checking whether he was linked to extremists.
Photos, allegedly of Mateen, have been circulating on social media since US media named him as the possible suspect behind the slaughter.
"This can be classified as a domestic terror incident," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.
An FBI official who was also present at the conference said: “At this time we're looking at all angles right now.” He was asked if the shooter might have possible connections with extremists.
“We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that particular ideology [extremism]. But right now we can’t say definitively so we’re still running everything around,” he added.
Orlando Chief of Police John Mina said at a press conference that “approximately” 20 people were killed and at least 42 people have been taken to a local hospital. He added that the shooter was wearing some “type of device.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said: “Many lives were lost.”
Police said on Twitter that the shooter inside the nightclub was dead. At a press conference the sheriff also confirmed the attacker was killed by a SWAT team. The assailant was armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, officials said.
Nearly 320 people were inside the nightclub at the time of the shooting.
Orlando police said they conducted a controlled explosion in the area.
“Everyone was getting on the floor,” another witness, Rosie Feba added. “I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun.”
One more witness, Brett Moots, told the New York Daily News that he saw people “being taken away with bullet wounds [to] their arms and abdomen.”
Orlando police confirmed the shooting incident on Twitter.
Javer Antonetti, who went to the club with his brother, told Orlando News that he heard many shots. He managed to escape, but his brother, who was on crutches, remained in the building. “I'm not going anywhere,” he said. “Police told me he's safe but he's still stuck back there.”
People took to Facebook to share information on the shooting. Under the Pulse club post they wrote that the attacker had an assault rifle and was barricaded inside with hostages. Others said that at least 30 people had been shot in the club.
Pulse nightclub wrote on Facebook: "Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running."
Reports on social media suggested that the attacker was “wearing a bomb.”
A shooting and hostage situation has been reported at the Pulse nightclub in the city of Orlando, Florida, local media said. Users on social media said they heard multiple shots at the site of the incident.