- People posting rude comments about gay bar shooting update#
- People posting rude comments about gay bar shooting license#
Four of his friends were shot and were at ORMC, he said. Kenneth Melendez and his friends were at the club. I just said, 'Please, please, please, I want to make it out,'" he said. "I was thinking, 'Are you kidding me?' So I just dropped down. He saw the wounded being tended to across the street. He continued to hear shooting even after he emerged and police urged people to back away from the club. People inside were able to then escape through the back of the club.Ĭhristopher Hansen said he was in the VIP lounge when he heard gunshots. A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area in the back where only workers are allowed. He estimated more than 100 people were still inside when he heard shots, got on the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth. He urged Americans to decide whether this is the kind of "country we want to be." President Barack Obama called the shooting an "act of terror" and an "act of hate" targeting a place of "solidarity and empowerment" for gays and lesbians.
People posting rude comments about gay bar shooting license#
State records show that Mateen had held a firearms license since at least 2011. In a statement sent Sunday to the Palm Beach Post, the company confirmed that he had been an employee since September 2007. In a 2012 newsletter, the firm identified him as working in West Palm Beach. Mateen was a security guard with a company called G4S. "We are in shock like the whole country." "We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident," Seddique said. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told NBC News about his son seeing the men kissing a couple of months ago.
"This is an incident, as I see it, that we certainly classify as domestic terror incident," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said. Thank you for your thoughts and love."Īuthorities were looking into whether the shooter acted alone, according to Danny Banks, an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Please keep everyone in your prayers as we work through this tragic event.
People posting rude comments about gay bar shooting update#
Just before 6 a.m., the Pulse posted an update on its Facebook: "As soon as we have any information, we will update everyone. The robot was sent in after SWAT team members put explosive charges on a wall and an armored vehicle knocked it down in an effort to rescue hostages. That prevented paramedics from going in until authorities determined the battery was something that fell out of an exit sign or a smoke detector, he said. About 5 a.m., authorities sent in a SWAT team to rescue the remaining club-goers, Police Chief John Mina said.Īt first, officers mistakenly thought the gunman had strapped explosives to the dead after a bomb robot sent back images of a battery part next to a body, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. In addition to the assault rifle, the shooter also had a handgun and some sort of "suspicious device," the police chief said. Mateen exchanged gunfire with 14 police officers at the club, and took hostages at one point. People were then able to escape through the back of the club.
A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area where only workers were allowed. When he heard shots, Rick dropped to the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth. In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber, but the agent described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time.Ĭlub-goer Rob Rick said the shooting started just as "everybody was drinking their last sip." Mateen was not unknown to law enforcement: In 2013, he made inflammatory comments to co-workers and was interviewed twice, according to FBI agent Ronald Hopper, who called the interviews inconclusive. The extremist group did not officially claim responsibility for the attack, but the IS-run Aamaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the attack was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.Įven if the attacker supported IS, it was unclear whether the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand. The official was familiar with the investigation, but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The couple was together for only four months, and the two had no contact for the last seven or eight years, she said.Ī 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. He wanted to be a police officer and applied to a police academy, but she had no details. She described him as religious but not radical. Mateen was short-tempered and had a history with steroids, she said in remarks televised from Boulder, Colorado. Omar Mateen has been identified as the gunman in a shooting at Pulse nightclub that left 49 dead and many more injured.