Early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation’s worst terror attack since 9/11, authorities said.
- The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Florida, was interviewed by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 but was not found to be a threat, the FBI said.
- Mateen called 911 during the attack to pledge allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers, according to a U.S. official.
Orlando, FL police shot and killed Mateen.
- Mateen carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the packed Pulse club around 2 a.m. Sunday and started shooting, killing 50 people and wounding at least 53, police said.
The Orlando suspect exchanged gunfire with 14 police officers at the club, which had more than 300 people inside.
The gunfire started around 2 a.m.
“He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance,” said Jackie Smith, who had two friends next to her get shot. “I just tried to get out of there.”
- After a standoff of about three hours, while people trapped inside the club desperately called and messaged friends and relatives, police crashed into the building with an armored vehicle and stun grenades and killed Mateen.
- 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.
“It appears he was organized and well-prepared,” Orlando Police Chief John Mina said early Sunday. Authorities said they haven’t found any accomplices.
“We know enough to say this was an act of terror and act of hate,” President Obama said in an address to the nation from the White House.
