• A gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub: It began around 2 a.m. Sunday as a gunbattle between a man and an off-duty police officer who was working at the Pulse nightclub near downtown Orlando, Police Chief John Mina said at a news conference. It became a hostage situation and there was a three-hour standoff until a police SWAT team burst through a wall to rescue those inside.
About 320 people were in the club, police said. Some people escaped through the back of the club, while others were trapped inside.
FBI Special Agent Ronald Hopper said the suspect — Omar Seddique Mateen, 29 of Fort Pierce, Fla. — had come to the attention of the FBI in 2013 and 2014 because of concerns about “inflammatory comments” made to coworkers and potential ties to an American suicide bomber who carried out an attack in Syria.
• Three-hour standoff unfolded: Officers from multiple departments arrived at the scene after the shooting. A bomb squad was called in, and before 5 a.m. officers conducted a controlled detonation. Police used an armored vehicle to break through a wall at the nightclub, then SWAT team members exchanged gunfire with the suspect. He was shot and killed. Mina said the suspect was armed with a handgun and an assault rifle.
Officers rescued at least 30 hostages from the club.
