(Newswire.net — June 12, 2016) —Early this Sunday, a gunman shot guests at a gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. Police have said that 50 have been killed and at least 53 people injured. There was 300 guests in the club at the time of the attack.
The attacker was identified as Omar Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan origin. He was born in 1986, and lived in Port St. Lucie in Florida and had no criminal file. The Government has yet to determine whether it was linked to Islamic extremism, reports the AFP.
Chief John Mina of the Orlando Police Department said that the attacker had an assault-type rifle, a handgun and some kind of device.
According to the police, at about 02:20am, Omar Mateen shot at security guards and then took hostages and barricaded himself in a room.
A message was posted on the club’s Facebook page urging everyone to leave the club and continue running.
Three hours later, law enforcement made the decision to enter the club and rescue the hostages. The attacker was killed during the rescue.
Before he was killed, strong blasts were heard from the Pulse nightclub, but it was a controlled detonation, reports RT. After which the police made an announcement on Twitter saying that the attacker was killed.
Police immediately confirmed that the shooting took place at the gay club, and that there are more wounded. They also warned citizens to stay away from the area where the hostage crisis was taking place.
Witnesses took to social media to describe the chaotic scene at the Orlando nightclub, saying that the attacker was shooting everywhere and that there was blood all over the place.
Anthony Torres, one of the witnesses, posted on Facebook that he left the club shortly after he heard gunfire, adding that there was screaming people everywhere.
“Shots fired Pulse Orlando made it out just barely as we started to hear fire being shot !! People are screaming that people are dead !! Crazy…”, posted somebody on Facebook.
According to local police it was an act of domestic terrorism. Meanwhile, the FBI officials reported that it is possible that the attacker was leaning towards extremist ideology.
According to the number of dead, the massacre in Orlando is the biggest scale mass murder of its type in the United States.
Mir Seddique, father of the gunman Omar, apologized for the crime and said that his son became furious a few months ago when he saw two men kissing in Miami.
He explained that the murder has nothing to do with Islam, and that nobody knew what Omar was planning, adding that he is as shocked, as the whole nation.
CNN reports that Omar was known as a supporter of Islamic state. He was a member of the US Democratic Party, and had a weapons license issued in Florida.
According to unconfirmed information, before the massacre, he called the police and declared allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bark al Baghdadi, also mentioning the terrorists from Boston.
Omar’s parents are from Afghanistan, and he was born in New York. He was married from 2009 to 2011 to a woman from New Jersey, and has a three year old son.
The attack in Orlando was committed during the month of Ramadan, when ISIS urged their followers to kill during that time around the world.