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Everyone was getting on the floor," Feba told the Orlando Sentinel. Rosie Feba was at the club with a friend when the shooting broke out. I just know that when I hit the ground, I was crawling and I hit my elbows and my knees," he told CNN. People were trying to escape out the back. I just saw bodies going down and I was ordering a drink at the bar. "I didn't see any of the actual shooters. Witness Christopher Hanson said he heard "loud banging noises, like gunshots going off." On its Facebook page, the club warned patrons: "Everyone get out Pulse and keep running." The Pulse club advertises itself online as "Orlando's hottest gay bar." "People have definitely been injured – or worse."Įmergency vehicles swarmed the area, with at least one crisis command vehicle at the scene. "There was a brief pause in the shooting and some of us just got up and ran out the back." He described hearing "non-stop firing" which probably lasted less than a minute but felt like a lot longer. I guess the shooter was shooting at the ceiling because you could see all the glass from the lamps falling," he told the network. Speaking to Sky News, clubber Ricardo Negron, who was inside when the shooting began, described how the gunman raked the club with bullets. Mina said there was no indication of a link between the two shootings. It was the second shooting incident in the city in just over 24 hours, coming shortly after singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead late Friday by a gunman who stormed a theater where she had just finished a gig. The attack coincides with gay pride month in the United States, with festive marches and events being held all over the country including in Orlando last week. It was unclear whether all the victims were killed by the gunman or if some died in the ensuing shootout with police. Mina said about 30 people were rescued during the operation. Police then stormed the venue, using explosives and breaking through a wall with a wheeled armored vehicle known as a BearCat.
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"At approximately 0500 hours (0900 GMT) this morning, the decision was made to rescue hostages that were in there." This did turn into a hostage situation," he told reporters. "The suspect at some point went back inside the club where more shots were fired. Police said the shots were fired by a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.Ī police officer working "extra duties" at the club responded, joined by two other officers, who engaged the suspect in a gun battle, Mina said. The chaotic events unfolded over a three hour period, beginning at around 2 am (0600 GMT) when shots rang out amid the throbbing music at the Pulse Orlando nightclub near closing time. He said around 42 injured were taken to area hospitals.Īnother 30 people were evacuated unharmed during the siege. "Unfortunately there are people who died from gunshot wounds, maybe around 20, inside the night club," Orlando police chief John Mina told the briefing. Police have yet to officially identify the gunman.īriefing the media in Orlando, FBI special agent Ron Harper said the suspect may have had "leanings" toward religious extremism. Quoting law enforcement sources, US television networks named the shooter as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and lives in Port St Lucie, Florida, about two hours drive from Orlando.ĬBS News reported that Mateen – who died in a shootout with police after the siege – has no apparent criminal history.
ORLANDO GAY BAR SHOOTING DATE FULL
The federal government has offered its full support with the probe. President Barack Obama was being kept up to date by his homeland security and counterterrorism aide on what Florida officials said was being investigated as a terrorist attack.
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Terrified survivors – who moments before were laughing and dancing with friends – described how the gunman raked the club with bullets, prompting a police SWAT team to storm the venue. US media identified the heavily armed attacker as Omar Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan descent, who opened fire and seized hostages at the crowded gay nightclub. "There are another 53 that are hospitalized." "We have cleared the building, and it is with great sadness that I share we have not 20 but 50 casualties in addition to the shooter," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer told a news briefing, raising the death toll from 20 previously. ORLANDO: Fifty people died and another 53 were injured when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at a gay nightclub in Florida, police said Sunday, making it the worst mass shooting in US history.