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The incident came on the heels of a deadly shooting at the nearby Plaza Live Theater in which a heavily-armed gunman shot and critically wounded singer Grimmie, a former contestant on the popular TV talent show "The Voice." "I told her I didn't think it was real, I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun." Everyone was getting on the floor," Feba told the Orlando Sentinel. Rosie Feba was at the club with a friend when the shooting broke out. I just know that when I hit the ground, I was crawling and I hit my elbows and my knees," he told CNN. People were trying to escape out the back. I just saw bodies going down and I was ordering a drink at the bar. "I didn't see any of the actual shooters. Witness Christopher Hanson said he heard "loud banging noises, like gunshots going off." The Pulse club advertises itself online as "Orlando's hottest gay bar." On its Facebook page, the club warned patrons: "Everyone get out Pulse and keep running." "There was a brief pause in the shooting and some of us just got up and ran out the back." He described hearing "non-stop firing" which probably lasted less than a minute but felt like a lot longer.
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I guess the shooter was shooting at the ceiling because you could see all the glass from the lamps falling," he told the network. Speaking to Sky News, clubber Ricardo Negron, who was inside when the shooting began, described how the gunman raked the club with bullets. Mina said there was no indication of a link between the two shootings. It was the second shooting incident in the city in just over 24 hours, coming shortly after singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead late Friday by a gunman who stormed a theater where she had just finished a gig. The attack coincides with gay pride month in the United States, with festive marches and events being held all over the country including in Orlando last week. It was unclear whether all the victims were killed by the gunman or if some died in the ensuing shootout with police. Mina said about 30 people were rescued during the operation. Police then stormed the venue, using explosives and breaking through a wall with a wheeled armored vehicle known as a BearCat. "At approximately 0500 hours (0900 GMT) this morning, the decision was made to rescue hostages that were in there." This did turn into a hostage situation," he told reporters. "The suspect at some point went back inside the club where more shots were fired. Police said the shots were fired by a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.Ī police officer working "extra duties" at the club responded, joined by two other officers, who engaged the suspect in a gun battle, Orlando police chief John Mina said. The chaotic events unfolded over a three hour period, beginning at around 2 am (0600 GMT) when shots rang out amid the throbbing music at the Pulse Orlando nightclub near closing time. Hopper said authorities were looking into whether the suspect had "leanings" toward Islamic extremism, but Florida officials also invited a local Islamic leader to address the media in a bid to preempt a possible backlash against the Muslim community.
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Police have yet to officially identify the gunman but US television networks quoting law enforcement sources named him as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and lives in Port St Lucie, Florida, about two hours drive from Orlando.ĬBS News reported that Mateen - who died in a shootout with police after the siege - has no apparent criminal history.
#ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB GAY BAR SHOOTING FULL#
The federal government has offered its full support with the probe. President Barack Obama was being kept up to date by his homeland security and counterterrorism aide on what Florida officials are investigating as a terrorist attack.įBI official Ronald Hopper told reporters officials were "confident" there was no immediate further threat to the area, or to the United States.īecause of the scale of the crime, however, Orlando's mayor declared a city-wide state of emergency and has asked the Florida governor to take the same measure state-wide.