Sun 12 Jun 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
As the Orlando morning progresses friends and family gather nearby waiting for news. 3.30AM Monday NZT live update: Police have searched the home and social media records of the man identified as the killer of fifty people in a Florida gay nightclub. NBC news reports that the father of Omar Mir Seddique Mateen has told them the attack had nothing to do with religion. Seddique said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in front of his wife and three-year old son a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting. He says his family are in shock over the mass killing. Several Muslim groups in the USA have condemned the attack. It appears New York-born Mateen had been working as a security officer and held several firearms licenses. The man believed to be Omar Mir Siddique Mateen Photos are circulating widely in US media purporting to be of the alleged killer but Orlando law enforcement authorities have yet to confirm either his identity or whether he is the man in the images. They say their priority is identifying the victims and notifying their family members. The Associated Press reports the mother of a man at the club texted her when the shooting began asking her to call the police. He said he ran with other club patrons to a bathroom to hide. Minutes later he texted her "He's coming" then "He has us, and he's in here with us." That was the last contact she has had from her son. 2.30AM Monday NZT live Update: The man who shot dead fifty people and injured at least fifty more in an Orlando gay nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning Florida time was Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, a U.S. citizen in his late 20s from Port St. Lucie, a coastal town to the south of Orlando and half way towards Miami. Although the official Orlando authorities have yet to make a public identification the usually reliable CBS News has quoted an unidentified source on the man's identity and says he had ties to radical Islamic ideology. Another news website says he is the son of parents who emigrated to the USA from Afghanistan. He appears to have had no previous criminal record. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has advised that the death toll, estimated to be around twenty until now, has been revised upwards to approximately fifty. The earlier, lower, estimate appears to have been based on a rushed assessment made by SWAT team members as they forced their way into the building. Dyer says the number being treated in hospitals for injuries, many of whom are critically ill, is a similar figure. Police say they used an armoured vehicle to ram open the doors of the Pulse nightclub to release some of the hostages after a police negotiator was unable to make progress with the killer. They say thirty people were rescued alive from the club which had been full to capacity. And they say Mateen died at approximately 5am "in a hail of gunfire." The Governor of Florida has declared a state of emergency, as has the city of Orlando. Trauma surgeons have been rushed to Orlando hospitals to assist in operating theatres. Calls have gone out for blood donors as stocks of some blood types run low in hospitals treating the wounded. Glbti counsellors have been dispatched to Orlando to help the survivors and friends and families of the victims. The White House has released a statement sending condolences to the victims. President Obama has directed the federal government to provide any assistance necessary to "pursue the investigation and support the community." Orlando police chief John Mina says the tragedy is one of the worst mass shootings in US history. Midnight Sunday NZT update: Orlando police have now confirmed that at least 20 patrons or staff of a gay nightclub in Orlando are dead and at least 42 injured after a gunman went on a rampage shortly after 2am Sunday morning Florida time. The FBI has called it an act of terrorism but have given no further details. While earlier media reports indicated the gunman, who is not from the local area, may have been a white supremacist an FBI spokesperson has now said the man "might have leanings" toward radical Islamist terrorism. However, he has added that has yet to be definitively established. In a brief statement Orlando police say the attack was initiated when a firefight broke out between the now-dead assailant and an off-duty police officer who was working as a doorman at the club. The assailant, who apparently died during a gunfight with a police SWAT team sent in to the building, was found to be armed with a handgun and an assault rifle, as well as having what the police are calling "a device on him." It appears a number of other devices have been found throughout the nightclub. Survivors have recounted their desperation to get out as the gunfire started with a bouncer breaking through a wall to allow some patrons to escape. They describe scenes of bloodied injured and dying people throughout the nightclub which is located in downtown Orlando. BBC Video footage here 10PM Sunday NZT hourly update: An official message from the Orlando Police states the gunman who opened fire in a gay nightclub is dead. The message does not give any details of the circumstances of his death. Police radio communications earlier indicated a police officer had been shot as law enforcement officials began to try to enter the central Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub where an armed man had shot dozens of patrons. It has been reported he had a bomb and was holding hostages. Some club patrons and staff had barricaded themselves into dressing rooms and other areas of the building. It is believed there are several fatalities. Club staff have described seeing "bodies everywhere." Confirmation has been received of dozens of people with injuries being rushed to a nearby hospital. A 350 metre diameter cordoned-off area has been established by the police who have confirmed they initiated a controlled explosion inside the club. The club was hosting a 'Latin Flavour' night. A white supremacist (see below) has been unofficially fingered as the gunman. Very little information has been confirmed yet by Orlando police other than that there are multiple injuries and the situation until the death of the gunman was "fluid." Family and friends of people believed to have been inside the club have been gathering and there have been emotional scenes as they have tried to get information. 9PM Sunday NZT Update: According to some US media reports the shooter, who is reportedly holed up with hostages inside the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, may be a man identified as an apparent neo-Nazi/white supremacist who posted a warning just hours before the attack. However there has been no official confirmation of this. A warning for people to get out of the club "and keep running" was flashed onto the Pulse Facebook page as the gunman began his rampage. There are reports that several people are dead. Police have sealed off the surrounding streets. The local medical centre reports that 42 injured people have been rushed to its emergency room and pother hospitals for treatment. The attack comes just a week after Black Gay pride week in Orlando and Gay Days at the nearby Walt Disney World. 8pm Sunday NZT: Early reports are coming in of a mass shooting and hostage situation at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub. It is understood a gunman, said to be wearing a bomb, opened fire with what witnesses say sounded like semi-automatic weapons. At least twenty people are said to be injured and social media photos show wounded people lying in the street outside the club surrounded by dozens of emergency response officers and support vehicles. A number of people are texting for help from within barricaded rooms at the now darkened club, including a group hiding in a dressing room. A patron who had just left the club, in the early hours of Sunday morning Florida time, just before the shooting started said “We were just leaving the club and we started hearing the shots... Everyone was running and screaming.” GayNZ.com Daily News will periodically through the night update this report with information about the attack as it becomes available.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 12th June 2016 - 7:58pm