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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Bonnie Malkin (now) and Alan Yuhas and Kate Lyons (earlier)

Orlando shooting – as it happened

Obama: Florida nightclub shooting an ‘act of terror and hate’

What we know

For those of you waking up to this story, here is a break down of what we know about the Orlando shooting so far.

  • A gunman named as Omar Mateen killed 50 people and left 53 others injured, many seriously, in a 2am attack on LGBT nightclub the Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. After an hours-long standoff, police stormed the building, killed the gunman and rescued about 30 hostages.
  • The massacre is the worst mass shooting in American history, and like several recent mass shootings was committed by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle.
  • Barack Obama declared the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate”.
  • Authorities released the first names of victims, after notifying kin.The first fifteen people named were Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, Luis S. Vielma, Kimberly Morris, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, Luis S. Vielma, Kimberly Morris, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 3Darryl Roman Burt II, Deonka Deidra Drayton, Alejandro Barrios Martinez, Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez.
  • Mateen was a US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida. He was known to the FBI and the subject of two investigations into terror links in 2013 and 2014. Those investigations were deemed inconclusive and closed.
  • The shooter called 911 before the attack and spoke with an emergency operator in “general to the Islamic State”. While Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack US officials say there’s no immediate evidence linking the militant group to the massacre.
  • Mateen bought a long gun and a handgun legally in the last week, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms said. Questions have been raised over why he was allowed to buy the weapons.
  • His ex-wife said Mateen was “obviously disturbed”and that he beat her and held her hostage during their short marriage.
  • Survivors and the families of victims recalled horrific stories of how the attack unfolded, and many waited in fear and anticipation to learn whether their loved ones were victims.
  • Donald Trump has postponed a rally in New Hampshire on Monday in the wake of the attacks. But he will press ahead with a speech on “the threats facing all Americans.”
  • Renewed debate over gun control has started, with Marco Rubio saying firearms legislation would not have prevented the attack.
  • Muslim American leaders, LGBT groups, Pope Francis and others condemned the horrific attack, and urged Americans to rally together. The FBI solicited the public for tips to aid the investigation, blood banks asked for donations around the US, and a fundraising campaign for victims’ medical bills raised $416,000. Authorities set up hotlines for information and campaigns for donations.
  • A US official told the Guardian the attack may have been a “massive hate crime”. Mateen’s father told NBC News that his son had become enraged by a gay couple kissing.

Updated

As America grapples with the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history, its politicians are expected to wade further into the overlapping but highly-charged questions of terrorism, gun control, hate crime and Islamic-inspired extremism.

Dan Roberts, Sabrina Siddiqui and Ben Jacobs have the latest on what the Orlando massacre will mean for Trump, Clinton and the 2016 presidential race.

Updated

Five more victims named

The city of Orlando has confirmed the names of another five victims. They are: Deonka Deidra Drayton, Alejandro Barrios Martinez, Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez.

Updated

Jessica Glenza has been on the streets in Orlando talking to relatives and friends of the missing as they endure the agonising wait for news.

Throughout downtown Orlando, police lights flash, helicopters chop overhead, and the weary and grief-stricken amble, as hundreds gather near makeshift police information centers, in hotels and around hospitals, hoping to hear their loved one is alive.

The aftermath of the worst mass shooting in American history is, for most, an extended, uncertain nightmare. Police have only identified ten of the 50 killed early Sunday morning. More than 50 more are injured. Many families have taken to social media to circulate missing posters.

“All of my friends are there, no one knows nothing,” said Maribel Mejia, a 42-year-old Orlando resident outside of a police command center. On the door, a hand-scrawled sign read, “Pulse family interviews.”

“One is dead already,” she said about a friend, citing a name which has not yet been released by police. Mejia was wide-eyed and shaking, held by her wife who sat adjacent. “We have like six more,” friends from the club who she hasn’t received word from yet.

Nilmarie Zapata, executive director of the non-profit Public Allies of Central Florida, said she had come to the scene after seeing families look for information online in Spanish.

“I put one and one together,” she said, feeling the need to help organize. Her day was spent, “hearing moms cries, to hear for the first time their daughter or son is dead.”

A state police officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press, struggled to describe informing families a loved one was dead.

“I never actually – I don’t know. Just, it’s not a word that is bad enough to describe it,” he said.

More details of the victims are emerging. Luis Vielma, aged 22, worked at Universal Orlando on the Harry Potter ride.

“He was always a friend you could call,” co-worker Josh Boesch told the Orlando Sentinel. “He was always open and available.”

Vielma was mourned by friends and family, but his death was also felt across the Atlantic by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who expressed her grief on Twitter.

My colleagues Ed Pilkington and Richard Luscombe have been reporting on how the suspected shooter Omar Mateen was allowed to buy weapons after he was interviewed twice by the FBI over his extremist views.

Many thanks to everyone who has responded to our Guardian Witness callout. Here a couple of the contributions we have received so far:

The event, organized by Oklahomans for Equality, began at the historic Club Majestic and concluded with a solemn outdoor candlelit procession to the Guthrie Green.

Victoria's equality commissioner, Ro Allen, leads a minute of silence for the victims of Orlando, pledges "We will not fight hate with hate."

Young people share stories of community at the Melborne Orlando memorial.

You can share photos, videos or stories of vigils and reaction from where you are by clicking on the blue contribute button at the top of this blog.

Names of ten victims released

The City of Orlando has confirmed the names of two more victims, bringing the total number of people identified to have died in the massacre to 10.

They are: Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, Luis S. Vielma, Kimberly Morris, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, Darryl Roman Burt II.

The list includes Eddie Justice, who was missing after exchanging a series of texts with his mother pleading for help from inside a bathroom at the Pulse nightclub.

Updated

Stories of survival

Richard Luscombe in Orlando has pulled together stories of those who managed to escape the carnage at Pulse nightclub.

You’re sitting there having a great time at a club and you hear what sounds like fireworks and balloons popping, and you assume it’s part of the show,” one clubgoer who escaped the carnage told reporters. “And then you hear people start screaming, the sound doesn’t stop and people start falling, you realise it’s not a show any more. People were screaming and falling and the shots wouldn’t stop. You realise it’s not the celebration you thought it was.”

Updated

British papers are also carrying news of the shooting on their front pages.

Updated

The world reacts with horror at events in Flordia

World leaders have spoken out in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando attack.

Queen Elizabeth II sent her condolences via Twitter.

Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called the massacre a “terrorist, violent, hate-filled attack” and said that Australians conveyed their “deepest sympathies” to the relatives of those affected.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani sent his condolences to the families.

“I unequivocally condemn the horrific attack in Orlando, Florida, USA. Nothing can justify killing of civilians,” he tweeted.

Updated

Julia Carrie Wong is attending a vigil in San Francisco.

People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting.
People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

She writes:

Thousands of people gathered in one of the spiritual centers of the
nation’s LGBT community - the Castro district in San Francisco - where
they hugged, mourned, prayed, and sang below the iconic rainbow flag
flying at half mast.
“As a gay Latino man, I feel devastated by the loss,” said David
Campos, a member of the city’s board of supervisors. “It’s hard to
find the words. That’s why we’re here.”
The mood in the plaza was by turns somber and defiant as members of
the city’s large LGBT community invoked the history of the struggle
for gay rights, promised to fight bigotry and homophobia, and spoke
out against Islamophobia.
“If the government tries to make this about Islam, I will go to my
death fighting that,” said Sister Mary Timothy Simplicity, a member of
the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an order of drag-wearing nuns who
campaign for LGBT rights.
“If our beautiful millennials learn anything from this I hope it’s
that we have a voice and need to use it,” he added. “I’m from the old
school. Fucking queers fight back.”

The Empire State Building has gone dark in honour of the victims.

While the spire of One World Trade Center lit up in rainbow colours.

Updated

Grieving relatives remember lost loved ones

Relatives of the victims of the shooting have started to pay emotional tribute to them.

Rosalie Ramos, the mother of 23-year-old Stanley Almodovar III who was shot three times inside the Pulse nightclub and died in hospital, told the Orlando Sentinel that she had prepared some food for her son for when he came home from the club. But he never did. Ramos said her son was a happy man with a big heart. His aunt described him as “an amazing person with a good soul”.

Friends of 36-year-old Eric Ivan Ortiz Rivera, who died inside the nightclub, said he was kind and selfless.

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera lived in Miami and was originally from Dorado, Puerto Rico, according to his Facebook page.
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera lived in Miami and was originally from Dorado, Puerto Rico, according to his Facebook page. Photograph: Facebook

“Eric was always willing to help everybody. He sacrificed himself a lot for his family,” his former roommate, Abismel Colon Gomez told the Sentinel. “He loved his brother, and he was always being generous.”

“My heart breaks,” Colon Gomez said. “We have seven friends who were there, and already we know three are dead.”

Updated

Reuters reports that Omar Mateen’s employers G4S screened him in 2013 and made “no findings”.

Mateen worked for global security company G4S since 2007, and was employed at a gated retirement community in South Florida, the company said in a statement late on Sunday.

He underwent two instances of company screening and background checks - once when he was hired in 2007, and again in 2013.

“The (2007) check revealed nothing of concern,” the company said in a statement. “His screening was repeated in 2013 with no findings.”

In 2013, the company learned that Mateen had been questioned by the FBI but that the inquiries were then closed.

“We were not made aware of any alleged connections between Mateen and terrorist activities, and were unaware of any further FBI investigations,” the company statement said.

Mateen was an armed security officer for G4S, and the company was trying to ascertain whether any guns used in the attack were related to Mateen’s work, said a spokesman who declined to be named.

More front pages from the US press are coming out and – unsurprisingly – feature the attack in Orlando prominently.

Updated

Rory Carroll reports from Los Angeles that the intentions and motives of a man found with a cache of weapons allegedly en route to LA’s gay pride parade are unclear.

Santa Monica’s police chief, Jacqueline Seabrooks, has walked back her initial claim that James Howell told police he intended “to harm” Sunday’s event.

“Inaccuracy confirmed. He said he was going to the event. Other information inaccurate,” she tweeted.

Any perception that the 20-year-old was planning a homophobic massacre took another knock when one of Howell’s friends, Joseph Greeson, 18, told the Los Angeles Times that Howell was bisexual and bore no ill will toward gays or lesbians.

What we know

  • A gunman killed 50 people and left 53 others injured, many seriously, in a 2am attack on LGBT nightclub the Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. After an hours-long standoff, police stormed the building, killed the gunman and rescued about 30 hostages.
  • The massacre is the worst mass shooting in American history, and like several recent mass shootings was committed by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle.
  • Barack Obama declared the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate”, and cautioned that the investigation was still in its early stages. “No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”
  • Authorities released the first names of victims, after notifying kin.The first eight people named were Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero, Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, Luis S. Vielma, Kimberly Morris.
  • The gunman was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida. He was known to the FBI, special agent Ron Hopper told reporters, and the subject of two investigations into terror links in 2013 and 2014. Those investigations were deemed inconclusive and closed, he said.
  • The shooter called 911 before the attack and spoke with an emergency operator in “general to the Islamic State”, Hopper said. While Isis has claimed responsibility US officials say there’s no immediate evidence linking the militant group to the massacre. The case represents the difficulty of “lone wolf” terrorist cases, my colleague Spencer Ackerman writes.
  • Mateen bought a long gun and a handgun legally in the last week,a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms said. “He is not a prohibitive person so he can legally walk into a gun dealership.”
  • The ex-wife of the gunman said Mateen was “obviously disturbed”and that she left him – and cut ties entirely seven to eight years ago – because of his volatile temper and physical and emotional abuse.
  • Survivors and the families of victims recalled horrific stories of how the attack unfolded, and many waited in fear and anticipation to learn whether their loved ones were victims. Police have not yet released names of the victims.
  • Donald Trump has postponed a rally in New Hampshire on Monday in the wake of the attacks. But he will press ahead with a speech on “the threats facing all Americans.”
  • Renewed debate over gun control has started, with Marco Rubio saying firearms legislation would not have prevented the attack.
  • Muslim American leaders, LGBT groups, Pope Francis and others condemned the horrific attack, and urged Americans to rally together. The FBI solicited the public for tips to aid the investigation, blood banks asked for donations around the US, and a fundraising campaign for victims’ medical bills raised $416,000. Authorities set up hotlines for information and campaigns for donations.
  • A US official told the Guardian the attack may have been a “massive hate crime”. Mateen’s father told NBC News that his son had become enraged by a gay couple kissing.

Updated

Michael Safi is reporting on Omar Mateen’s ex-wife Sitora Yusifiy who divorced the shooting suspect after four months of marriage and says he had serious mental health problems.

The ex-wife of gunman Omar Mateen, who killed (at least) 50 people when he opened fire at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando in June 2016.
The ex-wife of gunman Omar Mateen, who killed (at least) 50 people when he opened fire at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. Photograph: CNN

He writes:

Sitora Yusifiy was married to Mateen for four months in 2009 until her family was forced to “literally rescue me” after he kept her “hostage”, she said on Sunday in Colorado.

“In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family, loved to joke, loved to have fun,” Yusifiy said of Mateen, whom she had met online

“A few months after we were married I saw his instability, I saw his bipolar, and he would get mad out of nowhere, and that’s when I started worrying about my safety.

“Then after a few months he started abusing me physically, very often, and not allowing me to speak to my family, and keeping me hostage from them,” she said.

She said her family arrived to rescue her from Mateen “and had to pull me out of his arms”.

Our video team have put together an explainer on the attack:

Florida shooting: 50 people dead after gunman opens fire at LGBT nightclub in Orlando

The City of Orlando has updated the list of confirmed victims. So far, eight names have been released.

Vigils are taking place in Orlando and across the country.

Zach Stafford attended one in Nashville earlier. He reports:

Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in Nashville as the Music City joined numerous other cities around the US in mourning.

“When I woke up this morning and saw the news, I saw yet again the harm a well armed individual can do with a twisted mind,” mayor Megan Barry said to the crowd of over 300 people outside city hall.

“It’s a tragedy...and it’s a tragedy that keeps happening,” she continued.

The city of Nashville was one the few major US cities that quickly organized an official vigil for the local LGBT community to come together only hours after the news of the shooting gripped the nation.

“We are standing with you this evening with a very heavy heart when another senseless act of bill eve was committed towards our LGBT community,” said a representative from the American Muslim Advisory Council, which the city’s mayor asked to attend to show interfaith unity as speculation over the Orlando shooter’s connection to Isis continues.

“I want you all to know that as a Muslim I’m taught that all lives are sacred,” she said.

The event included local gay choir groups singing, a group prayer and the signing of a large card that will be sent to Orlando to show solidarity.

“There are people who wake up everyday fear - fear that they will be killed for loving the person they love,” Barry said before the crowd lifted their candles to the sky for a moment of silence.

“And no one should live in fear,” she continued. The city will be lighting monuments around town this evening with rainbows.

Updated

'He's coming. I'm gonna die'

The mother of one of the people trapped inside the Pulse nightclub while the attack took place has made public a string of harrowing text messages she received from her son while the shooting was unfolding.

Mina Justice phone
Mina Justice shows a text message she received from her son Eddie Justice at Pulse nightclub during the fatal shooting in Orlando. Photograph: AP

Mina Justice showed the heartbreaking series of messages that passed between herself and her son Eddie to the Associated Press.

The desperate exchange began at 2.06am when Eddie sent a message reading: “Mommy I love you.’’

‘‘In club they shooting.’’

As Justice tried frantically to contact her son he messaged he was: “Trapp in bathroom.”

“Pulse. Downtown. Call police.’’

Then, at 2.08am he wrote: “I’m gonna die.’’

Justice called 911 and minutes passed with no response from Eddie.

At 2:39am he managed to get back in touch, pleading “Call them mommy. Now.’’

“He’s coming. I’m gonna die.”

When she asked if he was hurt he responded: “Lots. Yes.”

His final few messages read:

‘‘Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us.’’

“Hurry. He’s in the bathroom with us.’’

‘‘He’s a terror.’’

Justice has not heard from Eddie since 2.50am.

‘‘His name has not come up yet and that’s scary. It’s just ...’’ told AP. ‘‘It’s just, I got this feeling. I got a bad feeling.’’

Updated

Martin Farrer has some details on the rifle used by Mateen in the shooting:

An AR-15 style rifle is displayed at a gun range in Colorado.
An AR-15 style rifle is displayed at a gun range in Colorado. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Law enforcement officials said Mateen used a semi-automatic AR-15 style assault rifle and pistol to kill to carry out his attack.

An AR-15, which is an updated version of the M-16 military rifle, is similar to the weapons used in a string of previous mass shootings in the US.

Adam Lanza used a Buckmaster Xm15 assault rifle to kill 28 school children and adults in the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 while Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook used two assault rifles and two pistols to kill 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015.

James Holmes also used this kind of weapon in his rampage at a cinema in Denver in 2012.


Trump postpones rally in New Hampshire

Reports say Donald Trump has postponed a rally he was due to hold tomorrow in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He will, however, press ahead with a speech he was scheduled to deliver at St Anslem’s College. His campaign released a statement saying the speech, in which he was expected to focus on Hillary Clinton, would instead address “the threats facing all Americans”.

Updated

'Hate will never win'

Talkshow host James Corden has paid tribute to the victims of the shooting at the opening of the Tony Awards in New York. Many attendees of the awards arrived wearing silver ribbons in honour of the dead.

In his opening address, Corden addressed those targeted by the massacre:

On behalf of the whole theater community and every person in this room, our hearts go out to all of those affected by this atrocity. All we can say is, you are not on your own right now. Your tragedy is our tragedy. Theater is a place where every race, creed, sexuality, and gender is equal, is embraced, and is loved. Hate will never win.

Updated

Rubio: gun control 'would not have prevented attack'

Florida senator and former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has told the BBC that there should be less focus on the weapons used in the attack on the Pulse nightclub, and more attention paid to the motivations behind it.

Rubio said placing controls on firearms “wouldn’t have prevented this attack.”

“These terrorists are committed people.”

Martin Farrer has been pulling together some background on Mateen’s father.

Seddique Mir Mateen, the father of the alleged shooter, is reportedly a life insurance salesman with a high-profile social media presence in which he campaigns about Afghan politics.

Mateen Sr, who lives in Florida, made occasional appearances on a satellite television channel called Payam-e-Afghan to host a show discussing Afghan politics. In one appearance he proclaimed himself as a ‘candidate to be the next president of Afghanistan’.

Omar Khatab, the owner of the channel, said Seddique Mateen occasionally bought time on his channel to broadcast a show called Durand Jirga.

“Three or four times a year, he would show up in southern California,” Khatab told Associated Press in a phone interview on Sunday.

“He’d talk for about two to three hours. He’d buy his own time and come here and broadcast and leave within a day.” Some of Seddique Mateen’s shows were taped and later posted on YouTube.

During one episode, a sign in the background read: “Long live the USA! Long live Afghanistan. ... Afghans are the best friends to the USA.”

Updated

Reuters are live-streaming a vigil being held outside the White House.

As usual, the New York Daily News doesn’t pull any punches with its front page.

'It is way too easy to kill people in America'

Alan Grayson, the Democratic representative for Florida’s 9th congressional district, has had some strong words to say about gun control in the wake of the shooting. Speaking to CNN he said:

If he was who he was and he was not able to buy a weapon that shoots over 700 rounds in a minute, all of these people would still be alive. If somebody like him had nothing worse than a Glock pistol he might have killed three or four people and not 50. It is way too easy to kill people in America today.

Hello, Bonnie Malkin here, now taking over the blog from Alan Yuhas for the next few hours of what has been a terrible day in America. We are gathering more information on Omar Mateen and his victims and will feed in ongoing political reaction to the massacre.

Updated

What we know

  • A gunman killed 50 people and left 53 others injured, many seriously, in a 2am attack on LGBT nightclub the Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. After an hours-long standoff, police stormed the building, killed the gunman and rescued about 30 hostages.
  • The massacre is the worst mass shooting in American history, and like several recent mass shootings was committed by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle.
  • Barack Obama declared the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate”, and cautioned that the investigation was still in its early stages. “No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”
  • Authorities released the first names of victims, after notifying kin. The first four people named were Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero.
  • The gunman was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida. He was known to the FBI, special agent Ron Hopper told reporters, and the subject of two investigations into terror links in 2013 and 2014. Those investigations were deemed inconclusive and closed, he said.
  • The shooter called 911 before the attack and spoke with an emergency operator in “general to the Islamic State”, Hopper said. No terror group has claimed responsibility, and the case represents the difficulty of “lone wolf” terrorist cases, my colleague Spencer Ackerman writes.
  • Mateen bought a long gun and a handgun legally in the last week, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms said. “He is not a prohibitive person so he can legally walk into a gun dealership.”
  • The ex-wife of the gunman said Mateen was “obviously disturbed” and that she left him – and cut ties entirely seven to eight years ago – because of his volatile temper and physical and emotional abuse.
  • Survivors and the families of victims recalled horrific stories of how the attack unfolded, and many waited in fear and anticipation to learn whether their loved ones were victims. Police have not yet released names of the victims.
  • Muslim American leaders, LGBT groups, Pope Francis and others condemned the horrific attack, and urged Americans to rally together. The FBI solicited the public for tips to aid the investigation, blood banks asked for donations around the US, and a fundraising campaign for victims’ medical bills raised $416,000. Authorities set up hotlines for information and campaigns for donations.
  • A US official told the Guardian the attack may have been a “massive hate crime”. Mateen’s father told NBC News that his son had become enraged by a gay couple kissing, and the gunman’s ex-wife told the Washington Post that he was an abusive and unstable man.

Gunman's ex-wife: 'he was disturbed'

Sitora Yusufiy, the ex-wife of the gunman is holding a press conference with her fiance in Boulder, Colorado.

“My family literally rescued me, the night that they were there they had to pull me out of his arms,” she says of Omar Mateen. “I had cut him off, I blocked everything.”

She says that her family warned him to stay away or they would go to the authorities, and they made a police report after she left. It’s been seven to eight years since she last contacted him. She was married to Mateen for about four months, she adds, but left because of his emotional disturbances and physical abuse.

She’s asked about religion. “He did follow religion, he did practice. You know, he had his faith,” she says. “I don’t follow any one particular religion.”

She says he went to shooting ranges and owned a gun, and worked as a correction officer at a juvenile delinquent center. “He wanted to be a police officer.”

“In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family,” she says. “A few months after we were married I saw his instability, I saw that he was bipolar and would get mad out of nowhere. That’s when I started worrying about my safety.”

She says Mateen would “not allow me to speak to my family, keeping me hostage from them”.

Her family became concerned she adds, and like her saw “emotional instability, sickness, mentally, he was mentally unstable and mentally ill”.

Her fiance insists Mateen’s attack was not about religion but about mental illness, and says no one expected this kind of violence from him. They “thought he was a man that was very confused and very troubled”, he says.

“He was obviously disturbed,” his fiancee adds. “He would get in his tempers he would express hate toward things, toward everything.”

Finally she says that the attack represents everything she abhors and wants to work against. “To be some way affiliated in some part of my life with somebody who caused such a tragedy, its shook me off the ground,” she says.

She offers her sympathy and condolences for the victims and their loved. “That’s my biggest concern, and I pray for their healing and I pray for their peace, to find their peace.”

Updated

One of the survivors of the massacre, held for three hours as a hostage in a bathroom, has described the horror of the ordeal to a packed congregation at the Joy Metropolitan Community Church. My colleague Ed Pilkington reports from Orlando.

The survivor, named only “Orlando” and closely shielded from the media by officials of the church, gave an emotional speech from a front pew in the church. He looked shattered, walking with difficulty and still carrying Band-Aids on either arm from his hospital care earlier in the day.

Orlando apologized to the congregation for finding it hard to talk. “I am so shaken,” he said.

He described going to the club and the sense of exuberance of that evening. “I wanted everyone to have a great time. We were all there, everyone, to have a good time, to respect each other in joy.”

He heard a noise and thought it was just the thud, thudding of the dance music. “Then I realized, it was shooting.”

His voice breaking, he went on to describe in sparse terms the three hours he was locked up in the bathroom of the club. “I don’t know what to say. I am shaken and sad, to have been there,” he said.

Before the survivor spoke, several pastors within the historic MCC network of LGBT churches that was founded in the wake of the 1969 Stonewall riots spoke about the need to overcome hatred with love and solidarity.

Reverend Catherine Dearlove told the congregation that she had relocated from the UK to Florida last October, marrying her wife under America’s marriage equality laws the following month.

“When I came over from England I felt safe, there was no reason not to feel safe. After we married we walked down the street holding hands. And then last night happened and everything changes. It makes you think about the safety that you have,” she told the congregation, many of whom were dressed in the rainbow colors of the MCC church.

Pastor Kelvin Cobaris, an African American religious leader, described how this afternoon he comforted families of those club goers who were still unaccounted for. Many of the 100 or so family members he counseled, he said, left this evening still not knowing what had happened to their loved ones.

“Others received the news that they did not want to hear. When they were told that their loved one was gone, some screamed out. Others were angry, they wanted answers. All we could do was try to offer comfort, and our prayers,” he said.

Updated

Orlando Police Chief John Mina has sent an email to his entire police department, whose social media account has just published it online.

“On the darkest day of my 25 years at the Orlando Police Department, I wanted to take a moment to tell all of you how proud I am of the work you have done today and will do over the next days and weeks,” Mina told the department.

We have trained again and again for this type of situation. It’s unfortunate that we had to put those skills to use today. But because of that training and your professionalism, we saved dozens of lives this morning. Even before the first patrol units arrived on the scene, an OPD officer working extra duty at the club engaged the gunman as he opened fire. Our first responders and SWAT team faced a hail of gunfire as they rescued the hostages, and we are blessed beyond words that none of them were gravely injured or killed.

We’ve recieved an enormous amount of tactical law enforcement support from local, state and federal agencies. The outpouring we have received from our central Florida community and law enforcement across the nation and the world has overwhelmed me with gratitude.

I know that you have all been affected today by the tragic actions fo a lone terrorist who cut short teh lives of so many. Our community, our city and our department will be grieving in the days, weeks and months to come.

But on a day like today – and every day – I couldn’t be more prou to be your chief.

Please hug your families tonight. And be safe out there.

Several news agencies have begun investigating in depth the life of the gunman, Omar Mateen.

Reuters reports that the 29 year old “appeared to live a quiet life in Fort Pierce, on Florida’s south-east coast, 120 miles from the nightclub.”

The imam of the Florida mosque that Mateen attended for nearly 10 years described him as a soft-spoken man who would visit regularly but rarely interact with the congregation “He hardly had any friends,” Syed Shafeeq Rahman, who heads the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, told Reuters. “He would come with his little son at night to pray and after he would leave.”

Rahman said Mateen never approached him regarding any concerns about homosexuals. Rahman said he himself had been increasingly speaking out against violence, noting that even inflicting a scratch on someone was against the tenets of Islam.

A high school classmate told Reuters that Mateen was a “a typical teenager who played football”. Samuel King said he often spoke with Mateen after he graduated high school. King, who is openly gay, said the Mateen he knew until 2009 did not appear to be anti-gay.

“What is shocking to me is that the majority of the staff at Ruby Tuesday’s when I worked there were gay. He clearly was not anti-, at least not back then. He did not show any hatred to any of us. He treated us all like the individuals we were. He always smiled and said hello.”

Meanwhile David Ovalle of the Miami Herald spoke with a co-worker of Mateen’s at the security company G4S. Daniel Gilroy told Ovalle that Mateen frequently used slurs: “He would never have more than three or four sentences without” using slurs for black or gay people. “It was always about violence.”

Gilroy also said Mateen “did not respect women”: “All he wanted to do was cheat on his wife.”

Florida Today also quotes Gilroy’s description of Mateen’s “toxic” intolerance.

Inside the vigil at the Metropolitan Community Church in Orlando, a gay chorus performs for mourners.

And in New York people are holding a vigil at the historic Stonewall Inn.

Updated

Vice-president Joe Biden has released an emotional statement on the shooting, calling its victims “our brothers and our sisters, our friends, neighbors, and loved ones.”

“In the coming days, we will learn more about these fifty souls and the lives they lived and the world they made better.”

As the President made clear, we are closely monitoring and fully involved in the investigation of the country’s worst mass shooting. We are grateful for the heroic actions of the Orlando Police, first responders—and many bystanders—who charged into danger and saved lives; who rushed the wounded to hospitals in ambulances, in police cars, in the backs of pickup trucks, and carried others to safety. As in the midst of so much evil, their acts are a reminder of the best in our common humanity.

Jill and I offer our prayers and deepest condolences for all those affected by today’s horrific events. But our prayers are not enough to end these kinds of senseless mass shootings. The violence is not normal, and the targeting of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans is evil and abhorrent.

Our law enforcement and intelligence professionals are still gathering the facts, and we do not yet know what, if any, connection or inspiration there may be with terrorist organizations. But we do know this—we will never rest in our relentless campaign to bring to justice all who would do America harm. And even as we grieve and pursue justice, no act of terror—no despicable act of hate—can tear us asunder. Times of unspeakable tragedy and evil like this are the moments to remind the killers, and the world, of what is best in us, and what unites us.

May God give strength to the families, friends, and all those who grieve today, with broken hearts, but unbound resolve. And may God continue to watch over our great nation.

Local reporter Kimberly Elten reports that authorities have delayed the next family briefing until 10am ET tomorrow.

A FBI press conference to provide an update on the investigation is expected sometime in the next hour, from near the home of gunman Omar Mateen.

Inside the Hampton Inn, relatives and survivors packed the lobby, hoping for any news. In mid-afternoon authorties began posting lists of known victims, those wounded at the Orlando Regional Medical Centre and at others hospitals, and an ever-growing list of names of those missing. My colleague Richard Luscombe reports from the makeshift emergency center.

Family members, some wrapped in blankets and many of them in tears, were guided into the building where some of the survivors of the attack were taken earlier in the day and where volunteers awaited with cold water and food. There were also chaplains and psychotherapists on hand.

“When you get sent from the hospital to a hotel it has you fearing the worst,” said Barron Cerrano, whose 37-year-old brother Juan Rivera is among the clubgoers missing.

“Nobody knows anything for sure and there’s so much wrong information circulating on social media.

“I’ve not lost faith or hope. We believe in God and we will keep praying and asking for prayers.”

Rivera, he said, is a respected and well-known hair stylist in Orlando who regularly works with the local Telemundo news affiliate TV station. He was at Pulse celebrating a friend’s birthday and goes to the club’s Latin nights “once or twice a month” Cerrano said.

People grieve outside a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel.
People grieve outside a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel. Photograph: Loren Elliott/AP

“I would usually go myself but for some reason last night I chose not to,” he said. “It’s a popular place with a lot of latino people.”

Tamara Colon left Pulse about 10 minutes before the shooting took place and learned the full horror of what had happened when friends who were trapped inside started to send her text messages.

She said she knew “three or four” friends who were likely killed and there were another 15 or so more unaccounted for.

“The club was so busy, maybe 300 or more people, and everyone was dancing and having a good time and being nice to each other,” she said.

“On any other night I’d still have been there at 2.30am but this night we left early. Friends who were in there said how horrific it was. It breaks my heart.”

Colon’s friend, Andrew Aleman, 23, who left the club early with her, broke down in tears as he recounted friends’ stories of the scene inside, including blood over the floors and bodies seemingly everywhere.

“I have friends who have passed, friends in hospital and friends who are missing,” he said.

“My feelings right now are numb. I’m keeping calm and trying to keep the pain out but when I let go I know it’s going to be very hard for me, it’s going to be bad. I’m still trying to process it.”

Mourners.
Mourners. Photograph: Loren Elliott/AP

Katherine Rosales suspected her cousin Jose Martinez, 24, had become a victim when the Mexican restaurant he works at in Altamonte called to say he had not turned up for work on Sunday morning.

“He’s a hard worker, six days a week, he enjoys his job and wouldn’t just not turn up to work,” Rosales said.”He’s never missed a day.

“He’d let somebody know what had happened to him if he was able. If he’s lying critically ill in hospital and nobody knows who he is, that’s still better than the alternative.”

Rosales said her cousin enjoys dancing every weekend and thought nothing of driving miles to downtown Orlando to go to Pulse. “It’s his life,” she added.

Miguel Honorato, has a wife and three children aged 15, two and one desperate for news of him, according to his brother Jose, who spent most of the day shuttling between the hotel and medical centre in a vain search for news.

“He went to the club with friends and we have heard nothing from Miguel or from them,” he said.

A fleet of four buses turned up at the Hampton Inn at about 4pm, set to transport the families to a city-run senior centre where there was more room to accommodate them. But at 6pm they were still inside the hotel. Loud wailing could be heard from inside.

The city of Orlando has asked residents not to hold vigils – authorities are concerned about sufficient security measures around the city.

Vigils, authorities wrote, “represent a serious strain on our limited resources, which we need to dedicate to law enforcement and victims”.

In Orlando, there are two extraordinary scenes of sadness: quiet, communal mourning at a vigil at the Joy Metropolitan Community Church and desperate grief at the Hampton Inn, where authorities are telling families whether their loved ones are alive or dead.

In the separate incident in Los Angeles, where a man was arrested with assault rifles and a reported intention to do harm to the city’s Gay Pride Parade, police have published details of the arrest.

The man, James Wesley Howell, was arrested in Santa Monica after a neighbor tipped off police. They found he had three assult rifles, high capacity magazines and ammunition.

“Additionally, officers discovered a 5 gallon bucket with chemicals capable of forming an improvised explosive device,” the Santa Monica police said.

Minutes away from a planned vigil in Orlando, families have gathered at the Hampton Inn as Orlando’s health authorities asked them to, for updates on the condition of their loved ones.

The city has now released two more names to the public, and ages of the six victims identified so far: Edward Sotomayor Jr, 34; Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22.

Orlando police are warning about false reports that the death toll has risen, some coming from local reporters in the area.

Their colleagues in the sheriff’s department have also posted deputies at a local Islamic center, which has heard of threats to its members.

What we know so far

  • A gunman killed 50 people and left 53 others injured, many seriously, in a 2am attack on LGBT nightclub the Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. After an hours-long standoff, police stormed the building, killed the gunman and rescued about 30 hostages.
  • The massacre is the worst mass shooting in American history, and like several recent mass shootings was committed by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle.
  • Barack Obama declared the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate”, and cautioned that the investigation was still in its early stages. “No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”
  • Authorities released the first names of victims, after notifying kin. The first four people named were Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero.
  • The gunman was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida. He was known to the FBI, special agent Ron Hopper told reporters, and the subject of two investigations into terror links in 2013 and 2014. Those investigations were deemed inconclusive and closed, he said.
  • The shooter called 911 before the attack and spoke with an emergency operator in “general to the Islamic State”, Hopper said. No terror group has claimed responsibility.
  • Mateen bought a long gun and a handgun legally in the last week, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms said. “He is not a prohibitive person so he can legally walk into a gun dealership.”
  • Survivors and the families of victims recalled horrific stories of how the attack unfolded, and many waited in fear and anticipation to learn whether their loved ones were victims. Police have not yet released names of the victims.
  • Muslim American leaders, LGBT groups, Pope Francis and others condemned the horrific attack, and urged Americans to rally together. The FBI solicited the public for tips to aid the investigation, blood banks asked for donations around the US, and a fundraising campaign for victims’ medical bills raised $416,000. Authorities set up hotlines for information and campaigns for donations.
  • A US official told the Guardian the attack may have been a “massive hate crime”. Mateen’s father told NBC News that his son had become enraged by a gay couple kissing, and the gunman’s ex-wife told the Washington Post that he was an abusive and unstable man.

Hospital officials are giving a press conference at The Center in Orlando, the medical center’s president speaking first.

“We jumped into action this morning,” Tim Vargas tells reporters. “Through the next 24-48 hours as more victims names, we ask that the community … hug your loved ones because nothing matters more than that.”

There is a crisis hotline, he reminds everyone: 407-228-1446

Reverend Nancy Wilson, moderator of metropolitan community churches worldwide, makes an impassioned plea for gun control. “How obvious can it be that we have to ban assault weapons in our country?”

And Hannah Willard, an official with Equality Florida, said the group has raised $416,000 for victims and their families.

Resources for information and donations

Orlando authorities have provided a variety of numbers and resources for people to inquire about loved ones.

There is a city website that will update with names of victims after next of kin have been notified: you can access it here.

There is also a hotline, 407.246.4357, for people to call if they believe a loved one was a victim.

Mayor Buddy Dyer also tweeted: “Aspire Health [is] offering grief counselors through the Zebra Coalition 407.228.1448. LGBT Center on Mills is open with grief counselors.”

Orlando Health is also offering services for people in search of loved ones. You can either go to a information point at the Hampton Inn at 43 W. Columbia in Orlando or call 407-246-4357.

There are also blood banks around the US – many in the Orlando area are overwhelmed by donors and recommending that people return over the coming days. Others around the country are willing to take donations.

Independent organizations have also created services. Nonprofit Planting Peace, a LGBT rights group, has created a crowdfunding campaign to help with victims’ medical costs. CrowdRise has created a similar campaign to collect relief funds and to guide people to charitable causes.

My colleague Ed Pilkington is in Orlando by the Pulse Club, where police continue to clear the area and hold families and reporters at bay. Heartbreaking stories also continue to drift out from behind the barrier, he reports.

Tragic news is still seeping through at the police cordon in South Orange Avenue in Orlando where the media are being held back about 200 metres from the Pulse nightclub, the black awning of which can be seen surrounded by emergency vehicles.

Three women, regular Pulse visitors who by a quirk were not there last night, have learnt via text message within the past 10 minutes that one of their close friends did not survive the massacre. “They didn’t make it, they didn’t make it,” the women said.

Amy, 28, Xiomara and Janice Rivera, both 24, are visibly distraught when we talk. But above all they are angry. Angry that their community was picked on for no reason. Angry that while they wish nobody else any harm, they have themselves become targets. Angry that once again they will have to be looking behind their backs in case of another attack.

“There were never any problems in Pulse,” Amy said. “It was never dangerous. Gay people don’t care what straight people do in their beds, so why does it matter in ours.”

“This was the first club I’d ever been to where we were welcomed. Everybody would dance with each other – straight, bixexual, trans, anything. It doesn’t matter who you were, everyone will love you in there,” said Rivera.

Xiomara said that “now we have to go in fear. We have to hope this doesn’t happen to us again. We aren’t bad human beings, we just love our own sex. So why so much hatred?”

Ximoara, 24, right and Amy, 28, left
Ximoara, 24, right and Amy, 28, left Photograph: Ed Pilkington

Although hundreds if not thousands of Americans have turned out to donate blood for the hospitalized victims of the Orlando shooting, the FDA bans donations from gay men who have had sex in the last year, a rule first created during the HIV/Aids epidemic of the 1980s.

USA Today reports:

In 2015, the policy changed to allow donations as long as men hadn’t had sex with other men in the previous 12 months. An advocacy group called National Gay Blood Drive said it supported the decision, that it was “still discriminatory.”

“While many gay and bisexual men will be eligible to donate their blood and help save lives under this 12-month deferral, countless more will continue to be banned solely on the basis of their sexual orientation and without medical or scientific reasoning,” the group said in a statement.

Though LGBT groups protest the FDA’s ban, some have also created other ways to donate.

In Los Angeles, Santa Monica police have arrested a man who had a car laden with weapons, explosive powder and camouflage gear, my colleague Rory Carroll reports.

Early on Sunday morning police in Santa Monica, a few miles west of Hollywood, reportedly intercepted a car with Indiana license plates containing assault rifles, lots of ammunition and tannerite, a material used in pipe bombs.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the man said he planned to attend the parade. Authorities made no immediate connection to the massacre at the gay club in Florida.

Eric Garcetti, LA’s mayor said a neighbourhood tip led Santa Monica to detain the “heavily armed” man but that authorities believed he was “completely unrelated” to the Orlando massacre.

The mayor struck a defiant tone just before the parade got underway on a warm, overcast morning, saying it was safe and protected.

“We will not shrink away … we will not go back to the closets. We are out here to march, to celebrate and to mourn. Today we know we are targeted as Americans because this s a society where we love broadly. We are white, black, brown, Asian, native american, the whole spectrum.”

He continued: “We are Orlando, we are Americans, we are all LGBT community members today, we are all part of a country that will not be beaten down. We will not go away. And today we are proud of who we are.”

Expressions of defiance, pride and solidarity – and anxiety - lit up social media.

A Santa Monica police spokeswoman did not immediately confirm the reports of the weapon-laden car. “As of now nothing has been confirmed. We have nothing further.”

However the FBI confirmed it was assisting with an arrest made by Santa Monica police.

First victims named

Orlando police have released the first four names of victims. The city will update the list of named victims on the site linked here, after authorities notify next of kin.

The first four named are Edward Sotomayor Jr, Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, Juan Ramon Guerrero.

My colleagues Ed Pilkington and Richard Luscombe are in Orlando, speaking with survivors, families of victims and locals who have lost track of loved ones or are taking to the streets in support of their suffering neighbors.

Brian Vieoma has been texting and calling his brother Luis’s mobile phone since his family learned this morning about the Pulse shooting. So far he has had no reply and now fears the worst.

“He came over for Latin Night, Venezuelans love to go dancing,” Brian Vieoma said of his 22-year-old brother.

“We know he was at the club with a female friend, could be a girlfriend, could be a friend, but we don’t know, and we haven’t heard from him. There’s been no answer on his phone.”

Luis Vieoma, who works at Universal Studios theme park’s Harry Potter was visiting the club from Sanford, a city north of Orlando. His father went to the Orlando Regional Medical Center to search for his son while Brian looked for information at a victim support center set up at a nearby hotel.

“My mum is out of the country and it’ll be hard for her,” said Brian, 19. “We’re just praying.”

Gay Orlando official gives emotional statement after nightclub shooting

Blocks from the Pulse nightclub, impromptu demonstrations are cropping up of local Orlando residents trying to speak back against hate. At one such rally next to an Arby’s in downtown Orlando a small group of LGBT activists are brandishing placards saying More Love, Less Hate and We Love Pulse.

Among them Jym Herson, 50, said he would have been at the club had he not been working last night. He is still waiting to hear from three friends who he believes were among the club goers and who he is fearful about.

“I feel numb right now,” he said. “How can this possibly happen. Why would you want to take on innocent people who aren’t doing anything other than having a good time?”

A demonstrator in Orlando.
A demonstrator in Orlando. Photograph: Ed Pilkington

FBI interviewed suspect in 2013 and 2014

Ron Hopper, FBI special agent, takes the microphone. The FBI is the lead investigative agency.

“The individual believed to be responsible for the has been identified as Omar Amir Siddiq Mateen, aged 29, an American citizen born in New York.”

“The FBI first became aware of Mateen in 2013 as he made inflammatory comments to coworkers, alleging possible terrorist ties. The FBI thoroughly investigated the matter including interviews of witnesses, physical surveillance and records checks.”

“In the course of the investigation, Mateen was interviewed twice,” he says. “Ultimately we were unable to verify the substance of his comments, and the investigation was closed.”

In 2014 Mateen again came to the attention to the FBI,” Hopper continues. Agents interviewd him again, after he suggested he had a relationship with an American suicide bomber, Moner Abusalha. “We determined that contact was minimal and didn’t to constitute a substantive relationship or threat at that that time.”

Then Hopper talks about the reported 911 calls, in which Mateen allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of the terror group Islamic State.

“There were 911 calls in which there was conversation between the subject and 911 operators,” he says. “It was general to the Islamic State.”

He says the FBI is looking at any terror ties, domestic or international. He won’t comment on interviews with Mateen’s family, saying “multiple interviews are being conducted as we speak.”

Finally, a representative of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says that Mateen legally purchased two weapons in the last week.

“He is not a prohibitive person so he can legally walk into a gun dealership,” he says. “He did so within the last week or so.”

Updated

Florida’s attorney general Pam Bondi says that her office will prosecute this crime and any like it to the fullest extent of the law. She echoes Scott, who said: “our justice is swift, penalties severe.”

She also calls Americans together: “you’re hearing on a violent and tragic and horrible day the word love.”

Police chief John Mina next takes the podium. He says 11 officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter, and have been relieved of duty as is standard procedure when officers are involved in shootings.

Officers are now working on identifying victims and notifying family members, he adds.

Sheriff Jerry Demings offers his thanks for “the raw support that we’re receiving” from many parties. “This was indeed an attack on our nation.”

Three of his deputies were involved in the rescue efforts, and also have been relieved as is standard.

Florida governor: moment of silence at 6pm

Florida officials have begun a press conference to provide updates on the statuses of victims and the investigation.

“This is probably the most difficult day in the history of Orlando,” Mayor Buddy Dyer. “It is the most difficult for those families who are still waiting for those families who are still waiting for information on their loved ones.”

The hotline to contact for information about loved ones is: 407.246.4357. Counseling services are available through the Zebra Coalition, as is a nearby LGBT group. There will also be a website: cityoforlando.net/victims.

Governor Rick Scott then says there will be a moment of silence tonight at 6pm ET to mourn for those killed and to pray for the men and women still fighting for life.

Florida Governor Rick Scott in Orlando.
Florida Governor Rick Scott in Orlando. Photograph: Kevin Kolczynski/Reuters

Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson have given a brief press conference in Orlando ahead of an FBI update on the investigation.

“The world is seeing this community respond in extraordinary ways,” Rubio says. “There are more people than there is the ability to process the blood and that’s terrific,” he adds, alluding to the huge crowds trying to donate to blood banks for the victims.

“This could’ve happened anywhere in the world, unfortunately this was Orlando’s turn,” he continues. “Suffice it to say we know that there’s hate in the world.”

“They won’t terrorize America, they won’t terrorize Floridians,” he says, “irrespective of their sexual orientation, irrespective of their ideology, irrespective of where they live. We’re all Americans.”

What we know

  • A gunman killed 50 people and left 53 others injured, many seriously, in an attack on an LGBT nightclub, the Pulse, in Orlando, Florida, at about 2am Sunday morning. After an approximately three-hour standoff with hostages, police stormed the building, killed the gunman and rescued about 30 people.
  • The massacre is the worst mass shooting in American history, and like several recent mass shootings was committed by a man with an AR-15 assault rifle. The gunman also had a handgun.
  • Barack Obama declared the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate”, and cautioned that the investigation was still in its early stages. “No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”
  • Muslim American leaders, LGBT groups, Pope Francis and others condemned the horrific attack, and urged Americans to rally together and to give blood for the victims struggling to stay alive. Equality Florida set up a fund to take donations, and Florida blood banks urged residents to make sure they arrived at times when banks were not overwhelmed.
  • Survivors and the families of victims recalled horrific stories of how the attack unfolded, and many waited in fear and anticipation to learn whether their loved ones were victims. Police have not yet released names of the victims.
  • Law enforcement sources identified the gunman as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a US citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida. A US official told the Guardian the attack may have been a “massive hate crime”, possibly directed at LGBT people, and sources told NBC News that Mateen had called 911 to pledge allegiance to the terror group Isis. Mateen’s father told the network that his son had become enraged by a gay couple kissing, and the gunman’s ex-wife told the Washington Post that he was an abusive and unstable man.
  • Authorities have not publicly announced a link to organized terror groups, and no terror group has taken credit for the attack. A Florida senator said officials believe there is a link to “radicalism” and an FBI agent said: “We do have suggestions that that individual may have had leanings toward that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say anything definitively.”
  • The FBI and police asked the public to call them about the case and about similar warning signs around the country. Los Angeles police arrested a heavily armed man who intended to go to the city’s Gay Pride Parade after a Santa Monica resident tipped them off.

Updated

More details are emerging about Omar Mateen, the 29 year old from Fort Pierce, Florida, identified as the murderer of 50 people.

His former employer G4S has released a statement, CBS News’ Omar Villafranca tweets.

Obama: 'to do nothing on guns is a decision'

The president then grows more reflective. “Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history,” he says.

“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that allows them to shoot people at a school, or a movie theater, or a church or a nightclub.”

Obama.
Obama. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

“This could have been any one of our communities,” he says.

He says that Congress has the opportunity to change this, and to make such “powerful” weaponry harder to acquire. But he adds: “To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”

Finally he calls for solidarity and strength. “In the face of hate and violence we will love one another,” he says. “We will not give in to fear … we will stand united.”

“May god bless the Americans we lost this morning … in the coming hours and days we’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy … say a prayer for them. And say a prayer for their families. …

“No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”

With that he ends his remarks – the 15th time in seven years that he has addressed the US after a mass shooting. He takes no questions.

The White House has also just ordered “the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and at all public buildings and grounds, military and naval stations, naval vessels, and in all US territories and possessions until sunset.

Updated

Barack Obama: this was an act of terror and hate

“As Americans we grieve this brutal murder, horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” Barack Obama begins his remarks to the nation on the worst mass shooting in its history.

“We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city,” he continues. “This is an especially heartbreaking day for all of our friends and fellow Americans who are lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual.”

He says the attack was against more than just a nightclub, but a place where “people came to dance and to sign and to live” and “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”.

The massacre, he says, is a “sobering reminder that attacks on any American, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, is an attack on all of us.”

“Although it’s still early,” he says, “we know enough to say this was an act of terror and an act of hate.”

He says he just had a meeting with FBI director James Comey and other intelligence officials, and that he ordered “the full resources” of the government into the investigation. “We must spare no effort to determine what inspiration.”

“We are still learning all the facts. This is an open investigation. We have reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations,” he adds. “What is clear is that this was was a person filled with hate.”

“We will go wherever the facts lead us.”

President Obama making a statement.
President Obama making a statement after the Orlando massacre. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Updated

My colleague Richard Luscombe has met another survivor of the attack in Orlando.

Carson Wells was in the club with a group of friends enjoying Latin Night and said it was a completely normal evening until the gunman opened fire.

“It felt like it was part of the DJ mix that was playing, just part of the music.

“When I realised it wasn’t I just ran out the back, I didn’t look back.”

Wells, from Orlando, said he was in a back room at Pulse three of his friends were hit by bullets and were in hospital, but none had life-threatening injuries.

Meanwhile, families and loved ones are still waiting for word from police and hospital officials about possible victims. Police warned that it would take hours to identify all the deceased and hospitalized victims, and heartbreaking anecdotes continue to emerge from Orlando.

In one, investigators told CNN that as they first entered the nightclub to account for the victims, cellphones continued ringing from all around the hall.

Updated

My colleague Richard Luscombe is in Orlando and has met with survivors of the Pulse shooting, including one whose husband remains unaccounted for.

Maria Arocha’s cousin Martin Torres, 33, went to Pulse with his husband Michael Morales but has not been heard from since.

Morales escaped with a bullet wound to his knee and is recovering in the Orlando Regional Medical Center. But of Torres, Arocha says, there is no word.

“We’re just hoping and praying,” Arocha, 17, told the Guardian.

“We’ve been to the hospital trying to find out anything we can but nobody knows anything. Michael is OK but we’re worried about Martin of course.”

Torres was at the club celebrating Puerto Rican heritage on Latin night and had been looking forward to a night out with his husband, excitedly posting about it in a Facebook post, Arocha said. He was not a regular at Pulse, she added.

Other reporters in the area are also hearing extraordinary accounts of the night from first responders, at least one of whom had family at the club.

Pope Francis has condemned “the terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims”.

He released a statement through a spokesperson, who said the attack “has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred.

Pope Francis joins the families of the victims and all of the injured in prayer and in compassion. Sharing in their indescribable suffering he entrusts them to the Lord so they may find comfort. We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence which so deeply upsets the desire for peace of the American people and of the whole of humanity.

Blood banks in the Orlando area are straining under the effort to take in donors, the Orlando Sentinel reports, as hundreds come out to give for the victims.

The blood banks are urging people who want to give to come donate in the coming days, but not to try to donate at banks that are overwhelmed.

Gunman 'pledged allegiance to Isis on 911 call' – report

NBC’s Pete Williams is reporting that Omar Mateen called 911 before the attack and when the operator answered, “swore his allegiance to [Abu Bakr al-]Baghdadi”, the leader of terror group Isis.

Williams cites unnamed law enforcement sources for his report.

Earlier today Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat leader of the House intelligence committee, said he had heard a similar account from sources.

Like many other authorities, Schiff urged caution and repeated that the investigation is an extremely early stage to be drawing any conclusions.

Barack Obama is due to speak at 1.30pm ET, followed by a press conference from investigators in Orlando around 2pm ET.

The two presumptive nominees for president have each responded to the mass shooting. The Democrat expressed solidarity with the victims and the Republican thanked his followers for “the congrats” for talking about his fears of terrorism.

Meanwhile a powerful Democrat in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein, has joined the chorus declaring the attack “an act of terror”.

Cities around the US are rallying behind Orlando, offering assistance and stepping up their security around LGBT locations in their own precincts.

In New York, mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered all US flags at half-staff as a mark of respect for the victims, and City Hall will be lit in rainbow colors “to represent LGBT pride at sunset”. Police have set up around the historic Stonewall Inn, considered one of the birthplaces of the gay rights movement.

In Los Angeles, police have arrested a man with an assault rifle, other weapons and possible explosives – he said he was headed to the city’s pride parade, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The chief of Tampa Bay’s police has also offered support to Orlando, and asked for help from the public: “Our message is that one that we have repeated many times: if you see something, say something, and we will do something.”

Philadelphia police official Joe Sullivan has tweeted from the city’s gay pride parade, offering condolences and support.

And a gay rights group has set up a fund to support the families of victims and the victims themselves.

One police officer was injured during the shoot-out. He was hit with a bullet to the head, but escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Chief of police John Mina said it was likely his kevlar helmet saved his life.

Muslim leaders around the US have condemned the attacks and urged Americans to donate blood for the 53 men and women in hospitals, many in dire condition.

“We condemn this monstrous attack and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured,’ the head of the Florida chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, Rasha Mubarak, said in a statement.

“The Muslim community joins our fellow Americans in repudiating anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence.”

The leaders of the American Muslim Community Centers, from Longwood, Flrodia, have also released a statement.

“The American Muslim Community Centers is saddened and shocked by the senseless killings in downtown Orlando, and we pray for the victims and their family members,” says chairman Atif Fareed.

Mr Fareed adds, “Ramadan is a month of deep reflection and prayer. Senseless violence has no place in our religion or in our society. We strongly condemn this heinous act of violence against humanity.”

The center then cited the Quran, chapter five verse 32.

“…if any one killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of mankind…”

LGBT groups around the US are also rallying, many with Muslim Americans.

Updated

US official: attack could be 'massive hate crime'

Spencer Ackerman has spoken with a US official who offers a more cautious early analysis of the attack, suggesting a hate-crime motive. Bill Nelson has just said “there is some connection to Islamic radicalism” but cautioned: “we still don’t know the facts”.

A knowledgeable US official told the Guardian that an unfolding federal investigation was in the earliest stages, but an initial hypothesis regarding the shooter’s motive leaned closer to a hate crime than an act of terrorism.

“The idea of it being terrorism is not off the table, but it’s probably not the principal approach. There are other reasons to believe it was motivated toward a very specific kind of community, obviously,” said the official, who would not be identified by name or agency in discussing a fast-moving investigation.

That investigation is still determining if the shooting was “terrorism or a massive, massive hate crime,” the official said.

The official emphasized that all hypotheses were preliminary. Investigators were still gathering facts about the mass-casualty incident on Sunday morning.

The official said the shooter was an American citizen.

Aligning with the early hate-crime hypothesis is an anecdote from the father of believed suspect, Omar Mateen: Mateen’s father told NBC News that his son was enraged at the sight of a gay couple kissing. Mateen’s ex-wife has spoken with the Washington Post, telling them he was abusive and “not a stable person”.

Updated

Florida governor Rick Scott is now giving a press conference. Like other authorities he urges caution, but is emphatic about the attack: “this is clearly an act of terror.”

“You just can’t imagine what these families are going through, families are still waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones,” he says.

Scott has no updates no the investigation: “Law enforcement is doing their job.”

“It’s heroic the individuals that went into the building when there was an active shooter. so we need to be thankful that individuals were willing to risk their lives.”

“For anybody that thinks that they should do this, I can tell you the state of Florida, the local law enforcement will be swift in their justice.”

Mayor Buddy Dyer adds that he has spoken with President Obama this morning, and praises the work of the FBI and law enforcement.

Florida senator Bill Nelson has just clarified his remarks about thinking of FBI intelligence officials, saying that some officials believe there is a link to “radicalism”, an not necessarily the terror group Islamic State.

There has been no claim of responsibility from any group.

Orlando officials have meanwhile scheduled their next press conference for 2pm ET, after President Obama’s remarks to the nation at 1.30pm.

President Barack Obama has announced that he will make a speech from the White House at 1.30pm ET.

He will speak from the Brady Room, the same place he emotionally pleaded with Congress “we can’t wait” to act on gun violence earlier this year.

Vice-president Joe Biden has also released a statement through a spokesperson.

The Vice President was briefed this morning by his national security advisor on the heinous attack that took place overnight at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Vice President Biden offered his prayers for all those killed and injured in the shooting and sends his condolences to all the families and loved ones of the victims. He is closely monitoring the situation and will continue to receive regular updates as we know more.

Florida senator: officials 'believe link to radicalism'

Intelligence officials “believe that there is some link to Isis”, Florida senator Bill Nelson has just told reporters at a press conference.

He cautioned repeatedly that the information is tentative, and later clarified that they believed a link to “radicalism”, and not necessarily to coordination with a terror group abroad.

He confirmed that the shooter is from Ft Pierce Florida, all but affirming that his name is Omar Mateen.

“Obviously he knew what he was doing,” Nelson said. “I asked the FBI if there was any connection to Isis,” he continued. “There appears to be. But they are naturally cautious and waiting throughout to see if this [the case] as the facts emerge. I have checked with intelligence staff, and they do believe that there is some link to Isis.

“But I might say that is not official.

Nelson then asked the public to tell authorities anything they might know about the shooter, whom he did not name, or any links to terror groups.

“I asked the FBI what I should convey and because of the nature of this shooting, they have asked me to ask anybody that knows anything about the shooter, especially in the Ft Pierce, St Lucy county area, to please come forth with the information.”

“This appears to be, unfortunately, since its the largest mass shooting, an act of terrorism. But the facts, we can’t say that totally yet. We are certainly having our share of violence.”

Nelson ended his remarks with an appeal for reflection and unity, noting the murder on Friday night in Orlando of a pop singer after her concert. “So what is happening to our country?”

We are going to have to dig down deep and ask ourslelves who we are as a people. Wev’e got to think of ourselves as the common denominator as Americans, not as a hyphenated American or off on some cause. And that’s what we’ve got to go off and exploer at this point.

On CNN a few minutes earlier, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said that he had also heard from intelligence officials about a possible link. Schiff also observed similarities between the Pulse attack and that at the Bataclan in Paris last year, “all highly indicative of an Isil-inspired attack.”

Schiff also urged caution: “we still don’t know.”

Updated

Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, was another of the speakers at the press conference just given by Florida authorities.

He emphatically denounced the violence, and called for Americans to unite in the face of horror.

“I’m here today to stand as a faith leader with our law enforcement community and city leadership in this hour of horror that was brought upon our city,” he said. “I’ve worked with these leaders for over 20 years. I know their caliber, their strength, their determination to make this city safe.”

I call on everybody in the community who has any info to please call the FBI share what you know. I call on my fellow faith leaders, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, whatever faith you follow, please pray for the victims and their families.

It’s supposed to be a beautiful morning but it is already an incredibly heartbreaking morning. It’s like lightning. This person is not likely to be connected to a network. I also want to caution the media from rushing to judgment and sensationalizing the story, we do not want the story to be shifted from the focus where it is.

Musri also echoed a comment by police chief John Mina, who said of the tragedy: “We believe this could happen anywhere.”

Musri said:

It’s a horrible tragedy. We are mourning. We are sad. We are heartbroken. It’s not really time for any sensational news and rushing to judgment. As a nation we need to look at this issue of mass shootings, we just had one too many today.

What we know so far

Approximately 50 people have been killed and 53 hospitalised after a shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando.

Florida police and Swat teams ended a hostage situation with a gunman, killing him, in the early hours of of Sunday morning.

At a morning press conference the FBI described the shooting as an act of terrorism. It is also one of the deadliest shootings on US soil.

Police initially announced that there were roughly 20 dead and 42 injured. At the time they did not have complete access to the night club, which they were still trying to make sure was clear of potential explosive devices. But after securing the night club they announced the death toll was dramatically higher than originally thought.

  • At approximately 2am on Sunday, an officer working at Pulse Club responded to shots fires and engaged in a gun battle with the suspect. The suspect at some point entered the night club and a hostage situation began.
  • Dozens of officers and federal agents responded to the shooting from around the area, and police began receiving phone calls from inside the club: calls from bathrooms and at least 15 people “in the area”, police chief John Mina said.
  • At approximately 5am police decided to rescue the hostages, setting off two “distractionary devices” and blowing apart a wall so a Swat team could storm the club. The suspect was killed in the ensuing gunfight. There were “at least 30 people that were saved during that rescue”, Mina said.
  • Police found an “assault-type rifle”, a handgun and “some kind of device” on the suspect’s body, and are working to clear the night club of any suspicious items. The bodies remained inside the club. Mina said there were “no witness accounts of a second shooter”.
  • About 50 people were killed, Mina said, and 53 taken to three area hospitals. One police officer sustained a minor injury.
  • The shooter is believed to be a US citizen of Afghan heritage named as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man from Florida. Police say they have a “positive identification” of the shooter, but have not announced a name as they are still notifying the shooter’s family.
  • Orlando sheriff Jerry Demings called the shooting “a domestic terror incident”, and the FBI said they were investigating whether the suspect acted as “a lone wolf” or had any ties to terror groups abroad. Asked about a link to jihadi terrorism, an FBI agent said: “At this time we’re looking into all angles. We do have suggestions that that individual may have had leanings toward that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say anything definitively.”

Police have set up a hotline for family members who believe their loved ones might have been caught up in the attacks.

Police are still trying to identify all victims at the night club and hospital.

Hotline: 407-246-4357

“It’s a tragedy of unimaginable proportions,” Mayor Buddy Dyer told Wesh-TV. “My heart goes out to the victims, their families. But we’re a strong resilient community.”

Dyer, who has been mayor of Orlando for 14 years, says he’s “never seen anything like this, I hope no mayor ever has to see anything like this.”

Dyer praised the first responders on the scene and said he believes their actions, particularly that of the police officer who initially exchanged fire with the gunman at the club, saved lives.

“There are still individuals in hospitals in serious conditions, we need to pray for them,” said Dyer, who would not be drawn on potential motives for the crime.

“We don’t want to speculate at this point,” he said.

Blood donations sought in 'mass casualty plan'

Michael Cheatham, a surgeon with Orlando Health, told the press briefing that local hospitals had implemented the “mass casualty plan” after the shooting and spent the morning operating on a number of victims, “many of them critically ill as a result of their injuries”.

Cheatham.
Cheatham. Photograph: AP

He asked people to consider donating blood as a way of assisting in the wake of the attack.

“Blood is a wonderful gift. That can be arranged through local blood banks, don’t come to the local hospitals,” said Cheatham.

OneBlood, an organisation that promotes and facilitates blood donation, announced there was an urgent need for O Negative, O Postive and AB Plasma blood donors in the wake of the attack.

The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) is calling on the Muslim community to take part in a blood donation drive for those injured in the attack.

A preliminary list of sites where people can go to give blood is below:

  • Orlando West Michigan Donor Center, 345 W Michigan Street, Ste. 106, Orlando, FL 32806
  • Orlando Main Donor Center, 8669 Commodity Circle, Orlando, FL 32819
  • Oviedo Donor Center, 1954 W. State Road 426, Oviedo, FL 32765
  • Asbury United Methodist Church - Bloodmobile 220, West Horatio Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751
  • St. Luke’s United Methodist Church – Bloodmobile, 4851 S. Apopka Vineland Road, Orlando, FL 32819
  • Metro Church – Bloodmobile, 1491 East State Road 434, Winter Springs, FL 32708

Updated

State of emergency declared - Orlando mayor

A state of emergency has been declared across the city of Orlando, Mayor Dyer has announced, to allow law enforcement officials to focus on the investigation of the shooting at Pulse night club overnight.

Speaking at a press conference near the site of the shooting, law enforcement officials gave an update on the process of the investigation.

Dyer.
Dyer. Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Images

Police said the focus was on securing the night club and the surrounding area, including the suspect’s vehicle, a van parked outside the club. Once these areas were secure, they would be able to start removing bodies and notifying family members.

“In the last few hours, the members of law enforcement community have been working diligently to make certain we did not have any secondary type devices,” said Sheriff Jerry Demings.

“That process has taken an extended period of time. That’s why we have not been able to remove all the victims from the crisis site. We probably have another hour to two before we secure the site.”

Police chief John Mina thanked the country for the outpouring of support.

“I want to commend the heroic and courageous actions of the first responders who were involved in an exchange of gunfire and the Swat team who were able to save up to 30 potential victims,” he said.

Updated

50 dead, 53 wounded in attack, says mayor

Mayor Dyer confirmed to a press conference that there were 50 killed and 53 hospitalised in the shooting, not 20 killed and 42 hospitalised as initially reported by police.

John Mina, chief of police said that initially officers believed there were 20 dead. But now that they have been able to access the entirety of the building, they can confirm up to 50 people have been killed.

“There were more victims than originally thought. Once we were sure there were no devices and could go in confidently, we were able to see the number of victims,” said Mina.

Mina said these numbers meant the shooting ranked as “definitely one of the worst tragedies.”

“It’s absolutely terrible, 50 casualties, one location, it’s absolutely one of the worst tragedies we’ve seen,” he said.

Updated

The New York Republican congressman Peter King, a member of the House homeland security committee and chairman of the sub-committee on counterterrorism and intelligence, has told CNN his sources have told him Omar Mateen, the suspect in the Orlando shooting who has been named by media outlets using anonymous sources, was “from Afghanistan and we believe he is trained in the use of weapons”.

This contradicts other reports, that the suspect’s family is from Afghanistan but he was born in America. The Guardian has not yet been able to confirm the identity of the suspect.

Asked if the suspect may have been affiliated with the Taliban or might have worked with US forces in Afghanistan, King said: “I really don’t want to go any further than that.”

Shooter identified as Omar Mateen

Several news outlets have identified the gunman as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old from Fort Pierce Florida.

The Washington Post said his identity was confirmed by relatives and law enforcement officials, though Orlando police have not issued an official statement confirming the identity of the suspect.

The shooter was killed during a shootout with police, as they broke into the night club to rescue 30 people held hostage there. No motive for the attack has been offered by police.

The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the identity of the shooter.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have both taken to Twitter in response to the shooting in Orlando.

Clinton expressed her concern over the shooting in both English and Spanish. The shooting took place during the night club’s Latin night and there appear to have been a number of Spanish-speaking Americans among the victims.

Updated

Police press conference has been pushed back 45 minutes. We’ll keep an eye on it and let you know what’s said.

Barack Obama’s press secretary has issued a statement:

“The President was briefed this morning by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, on the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims. The President asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials, work with the Orlando Police to gather more information, and directed that the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community.”

Updated

Terry DeCarlo from the GLBT Community Center of Orlando announced that they will be providing counselling, in person or by phone, to those affected by the night’s events.

In an emotional interview with local television station Wesh, DeCarlo said: “How can you not say that this was an attack on the LGBT community when it’s done in an LGBT club and a shooter walks in and there are 20 of your community members lying in a club and another 40 lying on hospital gurneys.”

Pulse night club is described as “Orlando’s premier gay night club” and the attack took place on the club’s Latin night. Witnesses have described Pulse as “upmarket” and a place that attracted a diverse crowd.

Many people have spent the early hours of the morning waiting outside local hospitals, some of which have been in “lockdown” since the shooting, admitting only patients and essential personnel.

Forty-two people were confirmed injured in the attack and brought to nearby hospitals. People who believe their family member may be among the injured are now being told by the Orlando Regional Medical Centers to come to the hospital to locate them.
The ORMC facilities are no longer under lockdown, but family members will need to bring identification with them to the hospital.

Updated

If police chief John Mina’s estimate proves accurate that about 20 people were killed in the Orlando shooting, it already ranks as one of the deadliest in American history.

  • 12 June 2016: police estimate that 20 people were killed and 42 injured after a gunman opens fire at an LGBT Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
  • 2 December 2015: An American and his Pakistani wife kill 14 people in San Bernardino, California, wounding 21 others at a workplace event. The shooters were killed after a car chase and shootout with police. The FBI declared the shooting an act of terrorism.
  • 1 October 2015: A student at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, killed eight students and a teacher, after amassing 14 weapons. He was killed in a gunfight with sheriff’s deputies.
  • 18 June 2015: A white gunman sat in a prayer session at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and then killed nine church-goers. Police later found a hate-filled manifesto linked to the shooter, who they eventually captured.
  • 16 September 2013: A Navy contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington DC, killing 12 people and injuring three. The gunman was killed by authorities, who found he had a record of insubordination and disorderly conduct.
  • 14 December 2012: A gunman shot dead 20 young children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The 20 year old also killed his mother, who lived nearby, and then killed himself before police could stop the massacre.
  • 20 July 2012: A 24-year-old gunman sprayed bullets in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater during a late-night showing of a Batman film. He killed 12 people and injured 58 others, and was arrested in the parking lot outside the theater. He was sentenced to life in prison.
  • 5 November 2009: An army psychiatrist killed 13 people and 32 others at Ft Hood, Texas, where he was based. The shooter was sentenced to death for the shooting.
  • 3 April 2009: A shooter killed 13 people and injures four others at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York, before apparently shooting himself.
  • 16 April 2007: A Virginia Tech student opened fire on campus, killing 32 people in a dorm and university building in two separate attacks, the deadliest mass shooting in US history. The gunman killed himself after the second attack.
  • 20 April 1999: Two Colorado high school students at Columbine High shot dead 12 students and a teacher and causing injury to two dozen others before taking their own lives.
  • 16 October 1991: A gunman opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol at a restaurant in Killeen, Texas, killing 22 people and wounding 20 others. Police later find the shooter in a restroom, killed by a gunshot wound.
  • 20 August 1986: A postman killed 14 people and wounded six others at his post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, before killing himself.
  • 18 July, 1984: An unemployed security guard attacked a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people and injuring 19 others. A police sniper killed the shooter from the roof of a nearby post office.

Updated

The Orlando police department has announced another press conference for 9.30am ET, likely to be held in conjunction with representatives from the FBI and the county sheriff’s department.

What we know so far

A shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando has killed about 20 people and sent 42 to the hospital, after Florida police and Swat teams ended a hostage situation with a gunman, killing him, in the early hours of of Sunday morning.

At a morning press conference the FBI described the shooting as an act of terrorism, saying: “Whether that’s a domestic terrorist activity or international, it’s terrorism.”

The press conference also gave details how the shooting began, the raid, and what few details police know so far about the gunman.

  • At approximately 2am on Sunday, an officer working at Pulse Club responded to shots fires and engaged in a gun battle with the suspect. The suspect at some point entered the night club and a hostage situation began.
  • Dozens of officers and federal agents responded to the shooting from around the area, and police began receiving phone calls from inside the club: calls from bathrooms and at least 15 people “in the area”, police chief John Mina said.
  • At approximately 5am police decided to rescue the hostages, setting off two “distractionary devices” and blowing apart a wall so a Swat team could storm the club. The suspect was killed in the ensuing gunfight. There were “at least 30 people that were saved during that rescue”, Mina said.
  • Police found an “assault-type rifle”, a handgun and “some kind of device” on the suspect’s body, and are working to clear the night club of any suspicious items. Bodies remain inside. Mina said there were “no witness accounts of a second shooter”.
  • About 20 people were killed, Mina said, and 42 taken to three area hospitals. One police officer sustained a minor injury.
  • It appears he was organized and well prepared,” Mina said of the suspect. “He’s not from this area.” Mina used the same phrasing to say that the gunman who killed singer Christina Grimmie on Friday night in Orlando was not from central Florida. He said the shootings do not appear related.
  • Orlando sheriff Jerry Demings called the shooting “a domestic terror incident”, and the FBI said they were investigating whether the suspect acted as “a lone wolf” or had any ties to terror groups abroad. Asked about a link to jihadi terrorism, an FBI agent said: “At this time we’re looking into all angles. We do have suggestions that that individual may have had leanings toward that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say anything definitively.”
Florida shooting: aftermath of gun attack at LGBT Pulse nightclub – video

Updated

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