The gunman behind a suspected terrorist attack that
killed 50 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando is
believed to be a US citizen of Afghan heritage named
as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man from Florida.
He is alleged to have opened fire at the Pulse Club in
the early hours of Sunday, taking hostages, killing
many and hospitalising 53. Raising the alarm in the
early hours of Sunday morning, staff at the venue
posted on Facebook: “Everyone get out of pulse and
keep running”. .
Orlando confirmed police said the shooting was being
treated as an “act of domestic terrorism” and had
resulted in mass casualties, urging people to stay away
from the area.
Several news outlets identified the gunman as Omar
Mateen, a 29-year-old from Fort Pierce, Florida. The
FBI said it had a “positive identification” of the shooter
though it has not yet released a name as it is in the
process of notifying his family.
The gunman was killed during a shootout with police,
as they broke into the nightclub to rescue 30 people
held hostage there. No motive for the attack has been
offered by police. The Guardian has not been able to
independently verify the identity of the shooter.
More on this topic
Florida nightclub shooting: police say about 20 killed
in 'act of terror' – rolling updates
Police initially said about 20 people had been killed in
the attack, with 42 injured, but later revised the death
toll up to 50, with 53 hospitalised, including one police
officer who had been shot in the head but whose “life
had been saved by his Kevlar helmet”. They confirmed
the gunman was armed with an assault rifle, handgun
and “some kind of device”.
In a press conference on Sunday morning, an FBI
spokesman said investigators believed the attacker may
have had extremist beliefs, and would consider
possible links to Isis, but cautioned they were pursuing
multiple leads.
An explosion was heard at the club at about 5am local
time, which police said was a “distractionary device”
used as part of the rescue mission to get to the
hostages. The explosion caused some panic on the
ground, which led to Orlando police tweeting to say it
had been a “controlled explosion” and warning media
about reporting inaccuracies.
Police confirmed the incident began at 2am when the
gunman started firing and an officer on duty at the
club exchanged shots with him. They said it then
descended into a “hostage situation”. The situation was
resolved three hours later when a Swat team stormed
the nightclub after receiving messages from club
patrons who were hiding in the club while the
gunman was still at large.
“A little after 0500 hours we made a decision to go in
and conduct a rescue, we were being contacted by
people in the bathroom, about 15 people, our biggest
concern was future loss of life,” said John Mina, the
chief of police.
Several explosives and an armoured vehicle were used
to break through a wall of the nightclub and rescue
approximately 30 hostages. The suspect was shot by a
police officer during this intervention.
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