Terror Attack in Orlando, Florida: 50 dead, 53 hospitalized
The terrorist was shot and killed by Orlando police
An Islamic terrorist shot up an Orlando nightclub, killing 50 people and injuring at least 53 further people are hospitalized.
Approximately 20 people are dead inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Sunday morning, just hours after a shooter opened fire in the club. At least 42 people have been transported for medical treatment, he said.
Police have shot and killed the gunman, Mina told reporters.“It’s appears he was organized and well-prepared,” the chief said, adding that the shooter had an assault-type weapon, a handgun and “some type of (other) device on him.” Law enforcement sources told CNN that the device, which was strapped to the suspect, was possibly explosive, but authorities don’t know if it was real or not.A canine unit indicated there were explosives inside the suspect’s car as well, the sources said.
UPDATE: The death toll rises to 50 in Orlando – largest terror attack in U.S. since 9/11. This is unfathomable. https://t.co/qipLbWWl5i
— Emily Holwick KMBC (@EmilyKMBC) June 12, 2016
The suspect in the mass shooting at night club in Florida has been identified as Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson identified the shooter in the Sunday incident. He cited law enforcement officials in speaking to reporters.
A federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation also identified him. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Danny Banks said earlier that the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. He says authorities are looking into whether the incident was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
Watch the report:
The Orlando police are providing updates via Twitter:
Mayor Dyer: 50 dead in Pulse nightclub shooting. @ChiefJohnMina Suspect had handgun and AR15 type rifle.
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
OPD first responders and SWAT rescued at least 30 people from inside the club and brought them out alive. pic.twitter.com/KFIdLhxeDI
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
Chief Mina speaking at press conference pic.twitter.com/BYpMRoEp2d
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
LIVE on #Periscope: Pulse nightclub shooting update https://t.co/cn3JN3gdTy
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
Florida governor Rick Scott is currently en route to Orlando, and we will provide updates as more information is learned.
2:41PM UPDATE (MC):
"This was an act of terror and act of hate." —@POTUS on the tragic shooting in #Orlando https://t.co/i7fOS38GzH
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) June 12, 2016
President Obama called the massacre an “act of terror” and “an act of hate.” He confirmed “the FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terror.”
Governor Rick Scott also called it “an act of terror.”
Scott released this statement before he traveled to Orlando:
Governor Scott said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and all those affected by this horrific tragedy. We are a strong and resilient state and we will devote every resource available to assist with the shooting in Orlando. Our state emergency operations center is also monitoring this tragic incident. I have been in constant communication with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and state and local law enforcement this morning. I would like to also thank all the first responders who quickly came to assist and help those in need.”
3:00PM UPDATE (MC):
The Islamic State has taken responsibility for the attack. However, no one can confirm if they planned the attack or even inspired it. Reports say that Mateen called 911 to pledge allegiance to the terrorist group’s leader, but no one has confirmed that report yet.
3:19PM UPDATE (MC):
The Hamilton musical has decided to not use muskets in their performance tonight because of the Orlando massacre.
Breaking: Cast of @HamiltonMusical is dropping the use of muskets from their #TonyAwards performance tonight because of Orlando.
— Michael Paulson (@MichaelPaulson) June 12, 2016
4:02PM UPDATE (MC):
The FBI interviewed Mateen three times, but they came up inclusive. He came to their attention in 2013 “after he made inflammatory remarks to coworkers and alleged terrorist ties.” He made contact with a suicide bomber in 2014, which brought in the FBI again.
Officials released names of four victims:
Edward Sotomayor, Jr.
Stanley Almodovar III
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo
Juan Ramon Guerrero
4:55PM UPDATE (MC):
Mateen’s Afghan father Seddique Mateen hosted a TV show and portrayed him as president of Afghanistan. He also “holds strong political views, including support for the Afghan Taliban.” From The Washington Post:
In one video, Mateen expresses gratitude toward the Afghan Taliban, while denouncing the Pakistani government.
“Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up,” he said. “Inshallah the Durand Line issue will be solved soon.”
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Comments
I live about an hour from Orlando and watching Orlando local tv. Very hard to watch. What I want is for our government to be truthful and for America to have an adult conversation on Islam, Immigration, terrorism and what kind of nation we want to live in?
I am sorry, but I am angry because this is in my backyard.
Your anger is understandable, but don’t hold your breath waiting on that conversation. What you’ll get is another prog push down the slippery slope of gun confiscation.
http://voters.findthedata.com/d/b/Omar-Mateen
He is a registered Democrat.
Well instead get ready for Obama’s last big push for gun control and a bevy of laws to “protect the people from guns” that wouldn’t have done a damn thing to prevent this tragedy.
To add to what Paul said your anger is also Justified and Righteous.
Meantime California bans concealed carry.
No. It does not. Not on several levels.
The ruling by the Ninth Circus was bad enough, don’t make it worse.
FU down-thumbers in your eye-sockets.
The 9th did NOT “outlaw concealed carry”, idiots. They made it a “permissive right”, which is WRONG. But LOTS of Californians have a permit, and LOTS more will be issued.
Thumbs up Rags!
Rags – they made it all but impossible, and that’s essential the same thing.
We have the same crap here in Maryland.
Maryland is a “may issue” state, which means that will not issue a CCP unless you are part of the ruling class elite. Normal people are just SOL.
“May issue” is an infringement of my rights.
No, concealed carry in California is at the discretion of the local police (sheriff?). So make your election contributions early and often.
Or, be rich, a lawyer,a judge, a retired LEO, or “important”.
It’ll be interesting to learn if “Pulse” was a “gun-free” venue.
It was a gay bar so I guess not. Oh wait. you mean firearms. Sorry.
I suspect your question was rhetorical, but yes assuming they serve alcohol under Florida law the place was ‘gun free.’ Except for the terrorist, of course.
Yup, FL prohibits licensed carrying in places which sell alcohol for onsite consumption: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=No+license+issued+pursuant+to+this+section+shall+authorize+any+person+to+carry+a+concealed+weapon+or&URL=0700-0799/0790/Sections/0790.06.html
Aside from that not stopping (and perhaps even encouraging the terrorist), it’s probably a good thing there was an off duty cop on hand from the start.
790.06 License to carry concealed weapon or firearm.—
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=No+license+issued+pursuant+to+this+section+shall+authorize+any+person+to+carry+a+concealed+weapon+or&URL=0700-0799/0790/Sections/0790.06.html
A license issued under this section does not authorize any person to openly carry a handgun or carry a concealed weapon or firearm into:
12. Any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose;
Sorry for the double post……
As I posted this I see it was already here.
Citations to statutes are always welcome. I think of it as great minds recognizing the need for crucial information at the same time.
The families of the murdered and injured have just received some important lessons of life.
Namely, Islam and its believers are murderous.
This the stuff that Israel has had to endure, and protect itself from, for its entire 68 year history.
“Life’s a tough teacher. It gives the test first, then the lesson.”
It wouldn’t matter if it was an AR15 or a pressure cooker bomb, a determined terrorist will find a way to kill.
It is easy to terrorize our population when in broad daylight we have torn prayer out of our classrooms and kicked God out, yanked down God’s 10 laws out of our public view and spit on God’s Word, and allowed the innocent to be ripped out of the womb on our watch.
Repentance stops violence against God. That is the best way to start ending the world’s madness.
I believe that when evolution what promoted in schools, the only thing kids have taken from it is that they are nothing more than animals and nothing special. That is how the left is nothing but vile animals.
Is evolution mentioned in the Koran?
Time for us to recognize the fact that Islam was created by Muhammad as an evil religion of war dedicated to world conquest and the imposition of a Sharia based tyranny. That the terrorists are the true Muslims. That we are at war with Islam.
We need an effort similar to that which defeated and destroyed Nazism to defeat Islam. The first steps to victory are reestablishing the militia so every citizen will be able to resist these murderers. The next step is to ban Muslims from entering or residing in the USA. If people claim to be peaceful Muslims they should reject Islam and find a new peaceful religion to worship. Islam is identical in every significant respect to Nazism.
After I heard and c almed down I had a sudden realization.
It’s Trumps fault.
RodFC: fifty people, so far, are dead.
This is not the time for that kind of snark. Put a sock on it.
May not be time now, but you know and I know that within 24 hours that will be the word from the Democrats and their Republican allies. His sarcasm was off timing, but true.
I already heard it on NPR today, several hours ago. It’s the Republicans’ fault for their rhetoric encouraging violence against gays. I kid you not, those jerks are blaming a terrorist attack by a jihadi f**khead on Donald Trump.
The pattern is clear and it is not an inanimate object as the left will say as they attempt to exploit this violence. This is not a tragedy. It is a war.
What is the first step a fire department takes when fighting a large fire? Containment. Then, they put out the fire because they know it will not spread.
How would we start in this case? Secure the borders — absolutely secure. Yet, the left will not do that. Why is that when the effect is so obvious? What do they really want?
To the left, these deaths are statistics on the road to Utopia. This will only get worse if we do not act. Ask Israel.
This guy was an American citizen, and, if reports are accurate, a registered Deemocrat voter.
As much as controlling the borders is a good thing in its own right, this has nothing to do with that.
Are you saying we need “Democrat Control” instead of “gun control”?
He was also on an FBI Terrorist Watch List, guess that did not stop him either.
“Watch list” should be changed to “wait list,” because we know what is coming, just not when.
Watch List is also appropriate, because the authorities just watch while this stuff happens, then lecture us that taking away our firearms is the only solution.
He hadn’t committed any crime, so what could the FBI do to him?
I’m not in favor of allowing the government to round up people for expressing unpopular opinions.
I think Humphrey’s Executor has it right – the only way to act against attacks like this is to convince people to defend themselves.
Well for one, they could have kept him from passing a background check to buy the AR-type weapon.
Chuck Todd was just on NBC “News” talking about the need to ban “assault” weapons. He believes that will be one of Obama’s talking points.
Because that approach worked so well in France, right?
Elbows and knees kill quite a few people, too. Wait! So do cars! Ban those, too? I wish these people would call a vengeful Muslim a vengeful Muslim. It would make things a whole lot easier, and more truthful.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/12/omar-mateen-id-d-as-orlando-killer.html
We have to change our mindset. We can’t wait to helpless victims. The entire populous needs basic self defense training, martial arts, etc.
One of the tweets in the post above says “unfathomable.” No, it isn’t, and that’s a large part of the problem. Pretending the barbarians aren’t at the door–and inside–isn’t going to help deter further attacks.
We know what the response of the ruling class will be. The problem is guns and fundamentalism. And of course if we root out islamophobia and affirm homosexuality we would not have these problems.
Now, the issue is Islam and we need to be honest about this. There are plenty of Muslims here already. People convert. Law abiding, decent Muslim people who abhor terrorism have children and if their children “get religion” they are not going into monasteries, they are not going to walk door to door and try to convert people, they are not going to work soup kitchens, they are not going to wear hats and grow their sideburns and keep kosher. Some significant number of them will take up the struggle to impose sharia on the world through violence and intimidation. The form this violence takes depends greatly on numbers and how isolated jihadis are from each other.
Islam will be ignored as much as possible. Guns and hatred, that is going to be the narrative.
Bataclan nite club. A Christmas party for largely democrat county employees. Military personnel & installations etc.
Might I make a suggestion? We know the democrats & their media arm will do all they can to mischaracterize & politicize this. A fact is the republican congress is for open borders & has provided the funding through both Cromnibus & omnibus to make that happen.
This is what we’ll continue to get from bipartisan D.C. business as usual.
To those of you who are virulently never Trump. He’s the one person whose fingerprints will be nowhere to be found. There’s more I could say but I’ll leave it at that. This is no time for intramural fighting. This is the time to expose the bipartisan thinking that is bringing this on from both institutional parties. Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi ; Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid.
This killer may be an American citizen, he may even be American born but I doubt it. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is internationalist, institutional D.C. politics is exacerbating the situation.
I’ve tried to be temperate here. It remains to be seen what others will do over this.
I think it’s time for the hard left to criticize Israeli “pinkwashing” again.
Jihadis and Obama coming
The threat we’ve always known
This summer here comes the Trumping
50 dead in Orlando
There are indications that this guy was, in addition to being a jihadist wannabe…
1. a LEO wannabe
2. nuts in his own right
3. an abuser of women (i.e., his own wife of a few months)
And, while we can’t round up these guys when we identify them, we DAMN SURE can watch them better than this.
Under Florida law, should this fruitcake have had weapons, with his history of domestic violence?
Why can’t we round them up? See Korematsu v. United States.
Where there’s no will, there’s no way.
50 people aborted. RIP
Federal Law on Domestic Violence & Firearms
Federal law prohibits the purchase and possession of firearms and ammunition by persons who have been convicted in any court of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” and/or who are subject to certain domestic violence protective orders.1
Federal law defines a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as an offense that is a federal, state or tribal law misdemeanor and has the use or attempted use of physical force or threatened use of a deadly weapon as an element.2 In addition, the offender must:
Be a current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim;
Share a child in common with the victim;
Be a current or former cohabitant with the victim as a spouse, parent or guardian; or
Be similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.3
The domestic violence is interesting…wife beating is acceptable to some religious sect I seem to remember…ummm…tip of my tongue…
Irish Catholics?
See Quiet Man, The
Remember “the rule of thumb”. Things do change. Wife beating…or husband beating…is against the law in all 57 states, I do believe.
A classic movie, and one of my favorites!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/12/florida-nightclub-shooter-had-made-threats-in-past-reports-claim.html?intcmp=hpbt1
Investigators identified the shooter as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a Muslim who had a Statewide Firearms License. They said he lived in Port St. Lucie and nearby Fort Pierce. His father, Seddique Mateen, announced he was running for president of Afghanistan sometime around May 2015.
Omar Mateen “was not a stable person,” his ex-wife told The Washington Post, which did not name her. “He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.” She said he worked as a guard at a facility for juvenile delinquents and frequently exercised at a nearby gym in his spare time.
Is there an effective difference between being a legal citizen and a citizen culturally? Did his cultures clash so he felt he needed to choose? We talk of legal status of modern day immigrants but I think there is more to the problem. How large is the time bomb?
The man was as American as kabuli palaw!
So it seems the shooter has a statewide firearms license?
There could not have been a conviction of domestic violence?
President Obama is speaking now. Am waiting to hear him blame a video. Nope, not yet. But, yes, gun control is entirely to blame; not the determination of a radicalized killer.
“President Obama is speaking now. Am waiting to hear him blame a video.”
That would make as much sense as blaming lack of school prayer or teaching evolution, as done above.
Wife says beatings over laundry, not beer, so rules out Irish Catholics. Obama says we (America I presume) need to change. That about covers it.
NBC Nightly News @NBCNightlyNews 45m 45 minutes ago
Before shooting began, shooter called 911 and swore allegiance to ISIS – @PeteWilliamsNBC says
MSNBC
NBC News: Suspect swore allegiance to ISIS
White House will claim work place violence!
A very sad day for America!
If only a presidential candidate would consider halting Muslim immigration and giving extra scrutiny to the Muslims already here!
That would be rational. Not politically acceptable.
Welcome to the fruits of years and years of our government knowingly letting these people in to our country and letting a sociopolitical movement of genocide and evil pretend to be a religion.
I don’t know what’s more sickening, the act itself or rather than acknowledging that there’s a deadly conflict between two factions of their base, the Left is lashing out at their cliched political “rogues” gallery over this.
I expect the FBI “investigation” of Hillary to have the same effect as its investigation of the shooter.
“The Hamilton musical has decided to not use muskets in their performance tonight because of the Orlando massacre.”
At last! Someone figured out the root cause of Islamic terrorism — it’s because the damned Americans used muskets in the 18th century.
Who would have figured?
Cowards at Hamilton.
Keep letting them in country, Barry, Hillary – and Squeaker Ryan.