Gunman kills 50 in US gay club attack

ORLANDO

Fifty people were killed and another 53 injured when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at a gay nightclub in Florida, making it the worst mass shooting in US history.

“We have not 20 but 50 casualties in addition to the shooter,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer told a news briefing. “There are another 53 that are hospitalised.”

The attack occurred at the Pulse nightclub, a popular lounge and home to one of the hottest party scenes in Florida.

Police said the shots were fired by a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.

Just a few days earlier, Orlando’s vibrant LGBT community had marked the annual Gay Days celebration, one of the biggest events anywhere in the United States dedicated to gay pride.

Barely discernible under the cheers and the throbbing music, were the sounds of what one reveller said sounded like drumbeats punctuating the soundtrack.

One patron, Mr Christopher Hanson, said at first he thought the loud, rhythmic sounds were part of the music before it dawned on him that they were actually gunshots.

“I didn’t see any of the actual shooters,” he told CNN. “I just saw bodies going down”. US television networks named the shooter as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986.

Mateen died in a shootout with police after the siege. Police were yet to officially identify the gunman.

Briefing the media in Orlando, FBI special agent Ron Harper said the suspect may have had “leanings” toward Islamic extremism.

The deadly events unfolded over a three-hour period, beginning at around 2am when shots rang out.

A police officer working “extra duties” at the club responded, joined by two others who engaged the suspect in a gun battle.

At least 30 people were evacuated unharmed during the siege. It was unclear whether all the victims were killed by the gunman or if some died in the ensuing shootout with police.

This was the second shooting 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 theatre where she had just finished a show.

NO FURTHER THREAT
Police said there was no indication of a link between the two shootings.

Speaking to Sky News, clubber Ricardo Negron, said: “People just dropped on the floor. I guess the shooter was shooting at the ceiling because you could see all the glass from the lamps falling,” he told the network.

He described hearing “non-stop firing”, which probably lasted less than a minute but felt like a lot longer.

“There was a brief pause in the shooting and some of us just got up and ran out the back.”

Rosie Feba was at the club with a friend when the shooting broke out.

“She told me someone was shooting. Everyone was getting on the floor,” Feba told the Orlando Sentinel. “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.”

President Barack Obama was being kept up to date by his homeland security and counter-terrorism aide on what Florida officials are investigating as a terrorist attack.

FBI official Ronald Hopper told reporters officials were “confident” there was no immediate further threat to the area, or to the United States.

Because 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.

The federal government has offered its full support with the investigation.