The attacker, who died in a shootout with police following a four-hour standoff at the Pulse nightclub, “was organized and well prepared," Orlando Police Chief John Mina said. He was also armed with a handgun and possibly an explosive, according to cops.
Officials classified the massacre as an act of domestic terror and identified Omar Mateen, 29, of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., as the gunman.
NBC News reported that Mateen called 911 shortly before the attack and pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr-al Baghdadi. It remained unclear if ISIS operatives had helped coordinate the attack or if Mateen was inspired by the terrorist network.
“There’s blood everywhere,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
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Mateen may have had “leanings” toward radical Islam, FBI Special Agent Danny Banks said.
The carnage began just around closing time at 2 a.m. as around 320 people finished up their drinks and prepared to head home following “Latin Night” at the club.
The killer first opened fire inside the club, mowing down clubgoers. He then exchanged fire with an off-duty cop outside of Pulse before reentering, resuming the carnage and taking hostages.
He was also armed with “some type of device,” Mina said. Police were still trying to determine if the device was a bomb.
“Everyone get out of pulse and keep running,” the club posted to Facebook in the midst of the horror.
Orlando Police officers direct family members away from a multiple shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. A gunman opened fire at a nightclub in central Florida, and multiple people have been wounded, police said Sunday.
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Jon Alamo was in the back of the club when he saw the shooter enter and open fire."I heard 20, 40, 50 shots,” Alamo said. “The music stopped.”
Christopher Hansen was in the VIP area when the mass shooting began.
“I was thinking, are you kidding me? So I just dropped down. I just said, 'Please, please, please, I want to make it out,’” he said. “And when I did, I saw people shot. I saw blood. You hope and pray you don’t get shot.”
The gunman holed up in the club, creating a standoff with police.
“We were just leaving the club and we started hearing the shots,” clubber Anthony Torres told the Daily News. “Everyone was running and screaming.”
At 5 a.m. police opted to mount an assault and detonated two explosives to distract the gunman. Nine SWAT officers stormed the club and shot and killed the terrorist. Police, using an armored vehicle, rescued about 30 people still held hostage in the club, Mina said.
A cop dodged death thanks to his Kevlar helmet, which protected him from a bullet to the head.
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People waiting outside Orlando Regional Medical Center. (Splash News)
Police confirmed the shooter was dead just before 6 a.m. and said the incident was a “mass casualty situation.”
As police sought to determine a motive for the massacre, Mateen’s father said that radical Islam was not a factor.
"This has nothing to do with religion,” Mir Seddique told NBC News.
He said that his son had become angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami several months prior.
"We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country," Seddique said.
But Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told CNN that intelligence officials had told him that Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS. NBC News reported the FBI had examined Mateen in 2013 for making inflammatory statements about radical Islam.
A portrait of Mateen was beginning to emerge of a violent, unstable man.
Mateen inflicted “physical and emotional abuse” on his wife during a brief marriage that ended in 2009, the woman’s dad in Edison, N.J. told the Daily News, asking not to be named.
Mateen had worked as a security guard and was licensed in Florida to carry a firearm, Florida records show. He legally purchased a Glock handgun used in the massacre two weeks ago, according to CNN.
The White House said President Obama was briefed about the attack.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims," the White House said.
The shooting happened during Pride Month, a national LGBT celebration honoring the Stonewall riots in 1969.
Terry DeCarlo, director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida in Orlando, called the rampage "an attack on the LGBT community."
Frantic parents descended upon the nearby Orlando Regional Medical Center in the middle of the night desperately looking for their loved ones in the aftermath. The hospital, as well as two others, Arnold Palmer Hospital and Winnie Palmer Hospital, were placed on lockdown. Only essential personnel were allowed to enter.
Mina Justice searched for her 30-year-old son, Eddie, at Orlando Regional. She said Eddie had texted her: "He's coming."
“The next text said: ‘He has us, and he’s in here with us,”’ Justice said. “That was the last conversation.”
The carnage inside the club follows the murder of “The Voice” contestant Christina Grimmie, who was shot to death during a meet-and-greet after her Orlando concert Friday.
Pulse is approximately 4 miles from The Plaza Live theater where Grimmie was slain. Authorities said the two incidents are not related.
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