Gunman massacres 50 at Orlando gay club in worst US mass shooting
A man armed with an assault rifle killed 50 people during a gay pride celebration at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early on June 12 in the deadliest mass shooting in US history, a rampage President Barack Obama denounced as an act of terror and hate.
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Police killed the gunman, who was identified as Omar Mateen, 29, a New York-born Florida resident and US citizen who was the son of immigrants from Afghanistan and had twice been questioned by FBI agents in recent years.
Law enforcement officials were probing evidence suggesting the attack may have been inspired by Islamic State militants, although they said there was no proof that Mateen had worked directly with the group.
"It has been reported that Mateen made calls to 911 this morning in which he stated his allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State," said Ronald Hopper, the FBI's assistant special agent in charge on the case.
Shots rang out at the crowded Pulse nightclub in the heart of a city that is one of the most popular US tourist destinations as some 350 patrons were attending a Latin music event in conjunction with gay pride week celebrations.
Clubgoers described scenes of terror and pandemonium, with one man who escaped saying he hid under a car and bandaged a wounded stranger with his shirt.
Fifty-three people were wounded in the rampage. It ranked as the deadliest single US mass shooting incident, eclipsing the massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech University in 2007.
