Omar S. Mateen has been identified as the gunman responsible for killing 50 people inside the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida Sunday in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
President Barack Obama made a statement shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday calling the attack “an act of terror.”
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, the horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people. We pray for their families who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando who have endured a terrible attack on their city.”
Here’s what we know so far:
June 12, 2016 – 2 a.m. ET:
Omar S. Mateen entered the crowded Pulse nightclub armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. He exchanged gunfire with a nearby police officer before taking an unknown number of hostages.
Fatriana Evans was outside the club at the time and told The Associated Press the shooting “sounded like fireworks.”
“Pop, pop, pop – and then everybody scatters,” Evans said.
Jackie Smith was inside the club and told reporters two people next to her were shot.
“Some guy walked in and started shooting everybody,” she said. “He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance. I just tried to get out of there.”
Christopher Hansen, who was in the VIP lounge when he heard gunshots, said he fell to the floor when the shooting began.
“I was thinking, ‘Are you kidding me?’ So I just dropped down. I just said, ‘Please, please, please, I want to make it out.’ And when I did, I saw people shot. I saw blood.”
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‘Just afraid he’s going to die’: Mother gets texts from son during Pulse Nightclub shooting -
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Amateur video shows wounded being evacuated from Orlando nightclub following shooting -
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Cellphone video captures a barrage of bullets being fired during Orlando nightclub shooting -
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Gunshot sounds caught on camera during Orlando nightclub shooting -
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Amateur video captures chaos outside Orlando nightclub following shooting
2:58 a.m.
Orlando police tweet “Shooting at Pulse nightclub on S Orange. Multiple injuries. Stay away from area.”
3 a.m.
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The Facebook page for Pulse Nightclub posts a status update, simply saying: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running.”
4:50 a.m.
Police say on Twitter that there had been multiple injuries reported from the shooting and advises people to stay away from the area.
5:15 a.m.
Police say a loud noise which was heard near the nightclub was a “controlled explosion.”
5:55 a.m.
For the first time police characterize the shooting as a “mass casualty situation” and say the person responsible, later identified as Omar S. Mateen, had been killed.
7:15 a.m.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina announces 42 people were injured during the shooting (that number would later climb to 53.)
Mina also revealed the shooter was armed with an assault-type rifle, and a handgun.
7:25 a.m
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Danny Banks says the shooting at the nightclub is being investigated as an act of terrorism. However, no immediate link to ISIS was announced.
10:15 a.m.
Florida Governor Rick Scott announces he has declared a state of emergency.
“We will devote every resource available to assist with the shooting in Orlando. Our state emergency operations center is also monitoring this tragic incident,” he said.
10:30 a.m.
Omar S. Mateen is identified by U.S. Representative Alan Grayson.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says at a news conference “there’s blood everywhere” while revealing 50 people were killed during the shooting and 53 others were injured – making it the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States.
11:45 a.m.
The shooter’s father Mir Seddique says in a statement to NBC News that he didn’t know what his son was planning. He said Omar had gotten angry months prior when he saw two men kissing in Miami.
Mir Seddique also apologized on behalf of his son.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident… We are in shock like the whole country.”
He also said the incident had nothing to do with religion.
12 p.m.
A SWAT team and bomb disposal unit are seen outside of an address associated with the shooter in Fort Pierce, Florida, roughly 118 miles (180 kilometres) outside of Orlando.
12:30 p.m.
Florida Governor Rick Scott called the shooting “heartwrenching” and declared it “clearly an act of terror.”
“To take that number of lives is clearly an act of terror,” he said.
1:45 p.m.
United States President Barack Obama says in a statement to reporters at the White House that while investigators don’t yet have a “definitive” motive for the shooting “we know enough to say this was an act of terror and an act of hate.”
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, the horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people. We pray for their families who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando who have endured a terrible attack on their city.
“This is an especially heartbreaking day for all of our friends, our fellow Americans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub, it was a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds and to advocate for their civil rights.”
Obama went on to lament the shooting as a “further reminder” of America’s recent history of mass killings, referencing several of the countries’ worst shootings including Sandy Hook, Charleston and Aurora.
“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get that hands on a weapon that lets shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or in a movie theatre, or in a nightclub.”
“We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”
3:39 p.m.
The City of Orlando releases names of four people killed in the attack – Stanley Almodovar III, 23, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20, Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34.
6:20 p.m.
Three more shooting victims were identified by city officials, as Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 and Luis S. Vielma, 22.
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