Dozens of bodies were slowly removed overnight from a popular Orlando gay club after a gunman sprayed the helpless crowd with bullets in violence that killed 50 people and devastated a city famous for family-friendly theme parks.
When the attacker opened fire in the early hours of Sunday morning, it interrupted an evening of drinking, dancing and drag shows at a club known for tolerance for all people.
Authorities said suspect Omar Mateen emerged, carrying an AR-15 and fired relentlessly — 20 rounds, 40, then 50 and more.
Photo: AP
In such tight quarters, the bullets could hardly miss. He shot at police. He took hostages.
When the gunfire at the Pulse Orlando club finally stopped, 50 people were dead and dozens critically wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Mateen died in a gun battle with SWAT members.
Photo: AFP
Authorities are wondering if it was an act of terrorism and are probing the background of Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, who had worked as a security guard at global company G4S.
The Islamic State’s radio called Mateen “one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America.’’
Al-Bayan Radio, a media outlet for the extremist group, yesterday hailed the attack, saying it targeted a gathering of Christians and gays and that it is the worst attack on US soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Photo: AFP
The broadcast is apparently an opportunistic statement, as the Islamic State has not officially claimed responsibility for the Orlando attack.
Thirty-nine of the dead were killed at the club and 11 people died at hospitals, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
At least 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition, and a surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb.
The previous deadliest mass shooting in the US was the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech, where a student killed 32 people before killing himself.
Mateen’s family was from Afghanistan and he was born in New York.
A 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.
The extremist group did not officially claim responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State-run Aamaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the attack was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.
Mateen was not unknown to law enforcement: In 2013, he made inflammatory comments to coworkers and was interviewed twice, according to as FBI agent Ronald Hopper, who called the interviews inconclusive.
In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to a US suicide bomber, but the agent described the contact as minimal, adding that it did not constitute a threat at the time.
Asked if the gunman had a connection to radical terrorism, Hopper said authorities had “suggestions that the individual has leanings towards that.’’
Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance,’’ said Jackie Smith, who saw two friends next to her get shot.
Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, told NBC News about his son seeing two men kissing a couple of months ago, which he said upset Mateen.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident,’’ Seddique said. “We are in shock, like the whole country.’’
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique