A man armed with an assault rifle and pledging loyalty to Islamic State militants killed 50 people during a gay pride celebration at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early on Sunday. The attack is the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
The Timeline of the attack:
11:32 am IST: A shooting erupted at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando during the club's "Latin flavor" event. The shooter goes inside the club, where a hostage situation develops. Some 100 officers from the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Orlando Police Department respond to the chaotic scene.
11:52 am IST: Shooter calls 911 to pledge allegiance to ISIS. He also mentions the Boston Marathon bombers.
2:30 pm IST: Heavily armed SWAT team members use an armored vehicle to smash down a door at the club, clearing the way for some 30 people inside to flee to safety. SWAT officers confront the suspect in the doorway, shoot and kill him.
11:30 pm IST: President Barack Obama addresses the attack from the White House, calling it an act of terror and an act of hate.
Authorities identified the Orlando nightclub shooter as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Florida. At least 50 people were killed and over 50 have been injured in the attack. Of the 50 victims who died from the shooting, 39 were killed at the club and 11 people died at hospitals.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the worst mass shooting in US history, but US officials said they had seen no immediate evidence linking the militant group to the massacre in Orlando.
"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," said the Amaq statement.
Undated photo of Omar Mateen (AFP)
Police say Mateen used an AR-15-type assault rifle on all the victims. The shooter was a security guard with G4S. In a 2012 newsletter, the firm identified him as working in West Palm Beach.
14 law enforcement officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter at the nightclub before he was killed.
Obama has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House and federal buildings until sunset Thursday "as a mark of respect for victims of the act of hatred and terror" at a gay Florida nightclub. He has also directed the same observance at embassies and other US government facilities abroad.
After the attack, police departments across the US have increased patrols near locations frequented by the LGBT community.
Police forensic investigators work at the crime scene of the mass shooting
Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusifiy said he was "mentally unstable and mentally ill". She said they met online about eight years ago and decided to move to Florida and marry him. The ex-wife, who wasn't named in the report, says at first the marriage was normal, but then he became abusive.
They were together for only a few months and her parents intervened when they learned Mateen had assaulted her. She says he wasn't very religious and gave no signs of radical Islam. She said he owned a small-caliber handgun and worked as a guard at a nearby facility for juvenile delinquents. Mateen's ex-wife said his family was from Afghanistan, but her ex-husband was born in New York. His family later moved to Florida.
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