Raleigh gay bar shooting

AP — It had been an evening of drinking, dancing and drag shows. After hours of revelry, the party-goers crowding the gay nightclub known as the Pulse took their last sips before the place closed. Witnesses said he fired relentlessly — 20 rounds, 40, then 50 and more. In such tight quarters, the bullets could hardly miss.

He shot at police. He took hostages. When the gunfire finally stopped, 49 people were slain and dozens more were critically wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U. Mateen, who law enforcement officials said had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a call around the time of the attack, died in a gun battle with SWAT team members.

Authorities immediately began investigating whether the assault was an act of terrorism and probing the background of Mateen, a year-old American citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, who had worked as a security guard. Thirty-nine of the dead were killed at the club, and 11 people died at hospitals, Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

At least five killed in shooting at gay nightclub in Colorado

In club they shooting. At least 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition, and a surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb. The previous deadliest mass shooting in the U. His family later moved to Florida, authorities said. Mateen was short-tempered and had a history with steroids, she said in remarks televised from Boulder, Colorado.

She described him as religious but not radical. He wanted to be a police officer and applied to a police academy, bar she had no details. The couple was together for only four months, and the two had no contact for the last seven or eight years, she said. A law enforcement official said the gunman made a call from the club in which he professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The official was familiar with the investigation, but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The extremist group did not officially claim responsibility for the attack, but the IS-run Aamaq news agency cited an unnamed raleigh as saying the attack was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.

Even if the attacker supported IS, it was unclear whether the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand. Mateen was not unknown to law enforcement: Inhe made inflammatory comments to co-workers and was interviewed twice, according to FBI agent Ronald Hopper, who called the interviews inconclusive.

InHopper said, gay found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber, but the agent described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time. Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

In a separate incident, an Indiana man armed with shooting assault rifles and chemicals used to make explosives was arrested Sunday in Southern California and told police he was headed to a Los Angeles-area gay pride parade. The Orlando shooting started about 2 a. When he heard shots, Rick dropped to the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth.