A gunman killed 50 people and injured 53 in a massacre at a gay nightclub in the tourist hub of Orlando, Florida, early on Sunday, the city’s mayor and police said, in an attack usa authorities are described as a “terrorism incident”.
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“It’s just something that you see in the movies but never think would happen to you”, he said.
Orlando police say the suspected shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, is also dead.
Police responded to calls of a shooting at 2 a.m. Officials praise the SWAT team and say SWAT saved the lives of more than 30 people.
At 5:53am, Orlando police confirmed that the suspect was dead.
“Unfortunately it’s not going to be like this for so many other people”, he said. Hours later the true scale of the horror was revealed.
At least 9 officers involved in shooting suspect, one officer injured, though not seriously.
Another witness said he heard about 100 rounds being fired.
A senior FBI official said there were suggestions that the gunman might have had leanings toward Islamic State militants but that this required further investigation.
“They don’t let nobody in or out”, he said. He said authorities were trying to determine if there was a connection with radical Islam.
“The next text said: ‘He has us, and he’s in here with us, ‘” Mina Justice said. The official, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of discussing such information, characterized the attack as “certainly” terrorism. It was not immediately clear how the shooter died.
“There’s blood everywhere”, Mayor Buddy Dyer said Sunday at a news conference, hours after the shooting.
He said the city and Muslim community “are heartbroken”. He said the gunman was armed with an assault weapon, a handgun, and had “some type of device on him” when he entered Pulse, one of the largest gay nightclubs in the area.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting local authorities handling the incident, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Orange County Fire and Rescue called for gurneys to move victims from the club.
Rosie Feba was at the club with a friend when the shooting broke out.
Orlando Regional Medical Center remains on lockdown.
The massacre at an Orlando nightclub that claimed 50 lives is the worst mass shooting in US history.
Others may have escaped through back entrances.
The White House said President Obama was getting updates on the case from Homeland Security. Police contend the attack was racially motivated.
Authorities in Orlando are now undergoing the grim task of identifying the dead and notifying their relatives.
The FBI is also now involved with the investigation.
Photos, allegedly of Mateen, have been circulating on social media since USA media named him as the possible suspect behind the slaughter.
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Pulse describes itself as “the hottest gay bar” in the heart of Orlando.
