49 dead/53 injured after 'terror attack' at Florida gay club Pulse

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Orlando nightclub shooting: Around 20 dead after 'terror attack' at Florida gay club Pulse

'I saw two guys and it was constant, like 'pow, pow, pow,'' witness says

At least 20 people have been killed and 42 injured after a gunman launched what police say was a "domestic terrorism incident" at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Police say an officer working as a security guard inside the Pulse club exchanged fire with the suspect at about 2am (7am UK time), before a hostage situation developed, a team of officers entered the club and shot dead the gunman.

It was unclear when the victims were shot by the gunman.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina told a press conference: "At... 0500 hours this morning, the decision was made to rescue hostages that were in there. Our officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The suspect is dead,"

At least one officer was injured in the gun fight but the police action saved at least 30 lives, Mr Mina said.

Witnesses in the club posted messages on social media as the stand-off took place, while one reportedly texted his mother to say: "He's rounded us up and he is going to kill us."

Police say the suspect was carrying an assault-type rifle and a handgun as well as an unidentified "device" on him.

Police did not immediately name the gunman or provide a possible motive for the attack but officials have classified the rampage as a "domestic terrorism incident", Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.

Javer Antonetti, 53, told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper he was near the back of the dance club when he heard gunfire. "There were so many (shots), at least 40," he said.

"I saw two guys and it was constant, like 'pow, pow, pow,'."

Police said they had carried out a "controlled explosion" at the club hours after the shooting broke out, but did not explain why that was done.

Source: Independent

[Bandit]

Police suspect Islamic terror link

Police said the gunman, who was shot dead by officers, was believed to be in his 20s was not a local man, while the FBI believe he may have 'leanings to radical Islamic terrorism'.

[Bandit]

Omar Mateen of Port Saint Luice, Florida has been identified as the gunman who killed 20 people at a Orlando nightclub, CBS News, the Washington Post, and NBC News report, citing law enforcement officials. Mateen is a U.S. citizen; his parents are from Afghanistan, CBS News reports. FBI Agent Ron Hopper told reporters Mateen may have leanings towards Islamic extremism.

"May."

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Apparently 50 people died. That's terrible.

[OrangeRibbon]

I was reading on MSNBC that his dad was saying two gay men kissing in Miami pissed him off.

[Bandit]

His father is fucking crazy

And his ex wife looked like a nut as well at that press conference.

[Bandit]

The story about the guy going to attack the gay pride parade in Hollywood was false. The guy is gay and was just going to attend, he just had guns in his car.

Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks initially said on Twitter that the 20-year-old man told one of her officers after he was arrested that he wanted “to harm Gay Pride event.”

But Lt. Saul Rodriguez said later the tweet was a misstatement. He said the suspect told investigators that he was going to the Pride festival but said he did not make additional statements about his intentions.

"It was a misstatement," Rodriguez said. "Unfortunately, she was given incorrect information initially, which indicated that that statement was made; however, that statement never was made. He did indicate that he was planning on going to the Pride festival but beyond anything as far as motives or his intentions that statement was never made nor did any officer receive that statement."

[Bandit]

Washington Post headline: Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved In Orlando Shooting

I don't like Trump and hate defending him, but he said nothing of the sort. He called him out on refusing to say "Islamic Terrorism", which is something even Democrat Congresspeople (in conservative districts, granted) have said. It's the difference between crazy Truthers saying "Bush Masterminded 9/11" and the 9/11 Report saying "Bush admin ignored CIA report warnings about attacks."

Huffington Post: Trump Suggests Obama May Be Sympathetic To Islamic Terrorism That's a headline that's accurate to what he said.

[Bandit]

Headline silently changed to "Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting"

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Orlando gunman ‘was on Grindr and was a regular at Pulse gay club



The gunman who massacred 49 people at the Pulse club in Orlando was himself a regular at the gay nightspot, four clubgoers told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.

‘Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,’ Ty Smith told the Sentinel, referring to slain shooter Omar Mateen, 29.

Smith told the paper that he saw Mateen inside at least a dozen times.

‘We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times,’ Smith said. ‘He told us he had a wife and child.’

Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app.

And other clubgoers told local media and MSNBC that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including Grindr, with mutual acquaintances to ‘hook up.’

Mateen also was at Walt Disney World in April, said a Disney manager who requested anonymity.

His wife, Noor Zahi Salman, was not cooperating with authorities, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Sentinel said.

Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in the attack, which was also the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

FBI chief James Comey said his bureau was ‘highly confident’ Mateen had been ‘radicalized’ while consuming online propaganda and that he had claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack.

Source: Metro

[Roofus]

Orlando gunman ‘was on Grindr and was a regular at Pulse gay club

Of course he fucking was

[Skynet]

Orlando gunman ‘was on Grindr and was a regular at Pulse gay club

Of course he fucking was

Much like Pudds it was all just for research purposes, of course.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

Orlando gunman ‘was on Grindr and was a regular at Pulse gay club

Of course he fucking was

So he's like the terrorist version of the guy's dad in American Beauty. The story gets even more intriguing.

[Bandit]

Evidence is building from a variety of sources that Orlando jihadi Omar Mateen, who murdered 49 people at gay nightclub Pulse, was himself gay, or had “gay tendencies,” as his ex-wife put it. Strangely, the ex-wife claims FBI agents asked her not to share this detail with the media.

That report comes from the New York Post, which in turn reports on an interview Sitora Yusufiy gave a Brazilian TV station, with her current fiancé translating her remarks into Portuguese. According to Yusufiy, who was married to Mateen for three months in 2009, the Orlando murderer had “gay tendencies,” and was once called “gay” by his father in her presence.

Most remarkably, Yusufiy said “the FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media.”

The New York Post also cites a Palm Beach Post report that a male former classmate of Mateen’s from Indian River Community College claims they used to hit gay bars together in 2006, and Mateen once “asked him out romantically.”

The classmate in question, Chris Callen – who performs as a drag queen under the name “Kristina McLaughlin” – said Mateen was escorted out of Pulse after drinking too much on several occasions, and once pulled a knife on a friend.

The Palm Beach Post reports that all but one of the gay bars Callen said he frequented with Mateen closed down over the ensuing decade, and the owner of the remaining bar said he did not remember seeing Mateen. Sheriff’s deputies reported visited another establishment that has since reopened under a new name, to ask the owner if he recognized Mateen.

Several other Pulse patrons told the Orlando Sentinel similar stories about Mateen drinking heavily at the club, sometimes becoming “loud and belligerent.” A Pulse regular named Kevin West said that Mateen sent him messages using a gay dating app called Jack’d. West gave his phone and Jack’d login credentials to the FBI, so they could verify his claim.

During an MSNBC interview, Pulse patron Cord Cedeno said he recognized Mateen from another gay dating app, Grindr. Cedeno described Mateen’s Grindr messages as “creepy,” and said “I blocked him immediately.”

Cedeno said one of his friends, who did not want to talk to the media, recalled seeing Mateen posts on yet another gay dating service called Adam for Adam. Two of his other friends have turned in their phones to the FBI to document Mateen’s activity on gay dating sites, but he said others who could provide supporting testimony are afraid to speak out.

“He was trying to pick up people. Men,” 71-year-old Pulse regular Jim Van Horn told the Associated Press. Van Horn said his friends warned him that Mateen was “a strange person.”

Mateen’s father told the Palm Beach Post that he did not think his son was gay. “If he was gay, why would he do something like this?” Seddique Mateen asked.

Seddique Mateen has previously claimed that his son was driven over the edge by the sight of “two men kissing,” a narrative that would dissolve completely if the reports of his frequent attendance at gay bars are true. The effort to position the story as an violent expression of generic “homophobia,” more than sharia ideology and international terrorism, would also be complicated by revelations that Mateen himself was gay.

A more complicated narrative might portray Mateen as embracing violent Islamic fundamentalism to absolve or erase his “gay tendencies.” That would be much harder to politicize, while simultaneously keeping radical Islam out of the discussion.

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

911 transcript released by DOJ. Words "Islamic State" and "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi" placed as [omitted]