Reporting from Orlando, Fla. — Latin Night was wrapping up at Pulse around 2 a.m. as about 320 people danced and drank to thumping reggaeton, salsa and merengue.
Minutes later partyers were fleeing into the street. Some clutched gunshot wounds. Others were splattered with the blood of people they didn’t know. Some were carried and dragged to safety. Police frantically loaded one injured man into the bed of a pickup truck.
Those still trapped in the gay nightclub could only hide.
Before the sun rose in the humid Florida air Sunday, 50 people lay dead, and 53 more were injured – the deadliest shooting in American history.
The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, died in a shootout with SWAT officers three hours after his rampage began. Mateen, the son of Afghan immigrants, called 911 during the siege, pledging his allegiance to Islamic State and mentioning the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
The FBI had twice investigated Mateen on suspicion of having terrorist ties in 2013 and 2014, yet they could not find conclusive evidence. Mateen was able to legally purchase a handgun and a .223 AR-15-style assault rifle days before the massacre.
After the shooting, a statement attributed to Islamic State’s Amaq news agency said the attack “was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.”
National security officials said they had not determined whether he was directed by Islamic State or simply inspired by the group. Nor had they learned how other motivations, such as homophobia, factored into the attack.
“We know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” said President Obama at a White House media briefing after meeting with the FBI director. “And as Americans we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people.”
“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or in a house of worship or a movie theater or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well,” he said.
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), noted similarities to the November attack on the Bataclan nightclub in Paris and said in a statement that intelligence officers were combing through terrorism databases to see whether there were any known links between the shooter and a terrorist group.
FBI agents were interviewing Mateen’s family and friends Sunday and planned to search his home, authorities said.
Since 2014, Islamic State has urged supporters in the U.S. to plan and carry out deadly attacks without traveling overseas first or communicating directly with the group’s leaders. Such so-called lone -wolf attacks are difficult to prevent because there are few communications to uncover or visits to terrorist training camps to track.
In May, Islamic State renewed a call for supporters in Europe and the U.S. to launch attacks on civilians during the holy month of Ramadan, which lasts from early June to the beginning of July.
“Ramadan has come near, and it is the month of raids and jihad, the month of conquest,” Abu Muhammad Adnani, an Islamic State spokesman said in an audio message posted online.
Make it “a month of suffering” for non-Muslims, Adnani added, saying the message was specifically directed to “soldiers and supporters” in Europe and America.
Whether Mateen heeded the call or followed his own agenda is unclear.
From his home in Fort Pierce, a sleepy town on the Atlantic coast, Mateen drove 120 miles to Orlando. He was a man brimming with rage. He beat his ex-wife for not doing the laundry, for any perceived slight; she thought he was mentally ill and left him after four months of marriage. At the security firm where he worked, he vented his hatred for gays, blacks, women, Jews. He grew furious on a recent trip to Miami, where he saw two men kissing in a park.
Mateen pulled into the parking lot at Pulse in the early hours of Sunday. The club sits on a humble commercial strip of South Orange Avenue, next to Dunkin’ Donuts, across from a RadioShack.
At the entrance, an armed security guard confronted Mateen at 2:02 a.m. Shots were fired, but whatever happened did not stop Mateen. He stormed into the club just as last call was announced over the microphone.
When the first of dozens of shots rang out, many thought the sound was part of the music.
When one of the clubgoers, Chris Hansen, heard the loud banging noises, he thought the pops seemed to move with the beat.
“I thought it was a Ying Yang Twins song or something,” Hansen recalled.
But the DJ turned down the sound and the sharp pop of gunfire became chillingly clear. In cellphone videos, the sound of single, high-velocity shots echoed through the streets. At other times, bullets crackled like firecrackers, the sound of a fully automatic weapon.
Partyers ran for the doors and fled into the surrounding neighborhood. Some had gunshot wounds.
At 2:09, the club posted a chilling note on its Facebook page: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running.”
But many couldn’t escape. They barricaded themselves in the bathrooms. One woman covered herself with dead bodies to hide from the shooter. Two others briefly hid under the DJ stand.
Many who couldn’t get out texted their loved ones.
“Mommy I love you,” wrote one man, identified by the Associated Press as Eddie Justice, to his mother, Mina Justice.
“In club they shooting”
“He’s coming”
“I’m gonna die”
“He’s in the bathroom with us”
The fate of Justice, 30, was unknown.
[Update: Authorities have confirmed Justice was among those killed.]
Mateen stopped shooting and made his call to 911 about 20 minutes into the attack. He held the remaining 30 clubgoers as hostages. Authorities said they did communicate with him at this point, but did not specify what was said.
Outside, dozens of emergency vehicles poured into the area. There were not enough ambulances, so police cars transported many of the wounded to the hospital. The Orlando Fire Department called its bomb squad and hazardous material team to the scene after 3 a.m.
At 5:05 a.m., a SWAT team made up of 14 Orlando police officers and Orange County sheriff’s deputies moved in to rescue the 30 hostages. They busted through a wall in an armored vehicle.
A fierce shootout broke out when they located Mateen. One officer took a shot to the head but was saved by his Kevlar helmet.
At 5:53 a.m., Mateen was dead.
No one left more carnage behind in an American shooting. Not the Columbine High School shooters in Colorado, where 13 people died in 1999; not Adam Lanza in Newtown, Conn., where 26 people were killed in 2012; not Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., where 32 people were killed in 2007.
Muslim leaders in America, bracing for a backlash, condemned both the slaughter and Islamic State.
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Inaya Bava, 5, on June 16, 2016, draws on crosses set up to remember the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting at the Orlando Regional Medical Center.
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Relatives of those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack arrive at Amway Center on June 16, 2016, for private meetings with President Obama.
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President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden bring flowers to the makeshift memorial at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
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Jiffy Lube employee Ralph Nieves puts up a sign of support for the Orlando community following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub.
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Sarah Roemer, left, and Brandi Van Dongen, nurses at Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital in Orlando, pray at one of the memorials.
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The Parliament House is one of the largest nightclubs catering to the LGBT clients.
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Rafael Rivera, left and Jeannette Gonzalez grieve at a wake for Eric Ortiz, one of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
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Members of the media and public wait to catch a glimpse of President Obama at Amway Center.
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A prayer service is held on June 15, 2016, for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting at Delaney Street Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla.
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Kelly Greenwood prepares a casket on June 16, 2016, at the Cardinal Casket Company in Orlando, Fla.
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Candles are placed under American flags set in a circle outside a vigil at Christ Church Unity for the shooting victims.
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At the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Taylor Green, 25, left, and Brittany Spencer, 25, grieve for those killed in the Pulse nightclub attack.
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ATF investigators continue to work the scene of the Pulse nightclub shooting along Orange Ave.
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Friends and family attend the funeral of Angel Luis Candelario-Padro. It was the first funeral for the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
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Doctors, nurses and first-responders at a prayer service in the emergency room at Florida Hospital in Orlando to honor the victims of the nightclub shooting.
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FBI investigators continue to work at the Pulse nightclub on June 15.
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Mourners embrace outside the visitation for Pulse nightclub shooting victim Javier Jorge-Reyes.
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Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims.
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Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Mourners gather at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando for a vigil in honor of the nightclub attack victims. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Michelle Moment sing praise during a service at the First Baptist Church of Orlando during a special prayer service for the attack on Pulse nightclub.
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“We were protected, we were saved it was just a miracle,” said Orlando Torres, 52. A promoter at Pulse, Torres was trapped in a bathroom stall with a friend. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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With stitches in his hand, gunshot victim Angel Colon tells his story to the media at a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday.
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Patience Carter after describing the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )
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Gunshot victim Patience Carter, 20, left, is consoled by Dr. Neil Finkler at a news conference at Florida Hospital, joined by Dr. Brian Vickaryous, center, and fellow survivor Angel Santiago, 32, right, where they described the attack and its aftermath.
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Angel Santiago on June 14, describes how events unfolded during the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando two days earlier.
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Doctors and other staff at Orlando Regional Medical Center involved in the response to the nightclub shooting answer questions at a news conference on June 14, 2016.
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Thousands gather for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on June 13, 2016, to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack.
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Alison Cossio, center, holds a photo of her friend Christopher Sanfeliz, who one of the victims of the Orlando shooting, during a June 13, 2016, candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, at Los Angeles City Hall.
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Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels plays guitar and sings during the Islamic Center of Southern California and ICUJP Interfaith Vigil Against Violence and Hatred Monday,night in remembrance of the 50 people killed in Orlando.
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Marwa Balkar holds a candle at the Islamic Center of Southern California and ICUJP Interfaith Vigil Against Violence and Hatred on June 13, 2016, in remembrance of the 49 people killed in Orlando, Fla.
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Los Angeles City Hall is lit up in colors of the rainbow during a candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
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Scott Phillips and Em Enagan mourn for the 49 lives lost in the Orlando shooting during a vigil at Los Angeles City Hall.
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A song is sung during a candlelight vigil and rally, hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, at Los Angeles City Hall, for the victims of Sunday’s shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
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Thousands gather for a memorial rally at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack.
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Madeline Lago, 15, and her mother Carmen Lago were among the thousands who gathered for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack. They bowed their heads as the bell was tolled.
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Thousands gather for a memorial at the Plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack.
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Friends and relatives bring flowers and remembrances to the plaza at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in downtown Orlando on Monday.
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Danielle Irigoyen brings flowers to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. “I’m very close to many of the people who go to Pulse. Pulse was a safe place for us all,” she sail.
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Investigators gather at the Pulse nightclub on Monday morning.
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Investigators set up at the Pulse nightclub.
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Family gather for victims at Beardall Senior Center in Orlandoon Monday.
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Friends of Shane Tomlinson, who was killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting, gather in prayer and remembrances in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Friends of Shane Tomlinson, including Richie Compton, left, and Erik Winger, right, gather in prayer and remembrances in downtown Orlando on Monday. Shane Tomlinson was killed killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting.
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Family and friends arrive at the Senior Center in Orlando as they await news on their loved ones on Monday. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers gather in prayer on Monday at the Senior Center in Orlando where they are there to help grieving family and friends of those killed and injured in the shooting at Pulse nightclub.
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FBI investigators in Orlando, Fla., look at the floor plans of Pulse nightclub as they gather on Monday morning to continue the investigation.
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People gather at Taylor Square in Sydney, Australia, to show solidarity with victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
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City Hall in Tel Aviv, Israel, is lit up in solidarity with Orlando’s shooting victims.
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New Zealand residents gather at Frank Kitts Park in Wellingtond to mourn victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla.
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A man lights a candle in Paris on June 12 to remember those slain and wounded in the Orlando nightclub shooting. (Rapahel Satter / Associated Press)
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New Zealand residents gather in Frank Kitts Park to mourn victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
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Residents gather at Joy Metropolitan Community Church near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando to mourn the mass shooting victims of the early morning attack on June 12, 2016.
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Johnpaul Vazquez, right, and his boyfriend Yazan Sale sit by Lake Eola, in downtown Orlando, thinking of those killed and injured.
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Judy Rettig, center, and Dave Hack, left, hug after a prayer service held at the Joy Meropolitan Community Church in Orlando.
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Zafar Basith prays at a vigil for the Orlando shooting victims at the Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino.
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Raymond Braun, right, right, gets a hug after a vigil held in West Hollywood for the victims of the shooting at the nightclub in Orlando.
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Monte Dobbs and Jhoanna Galvez of Long Beach, comfort each other during a vigil service at the corner of La Cienega Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd.
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Orlando, second from right, was at the nightclub and trapped for three hours in a bathroom. Orlando and family attend a vigil and church service held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub.
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People hug in solaceafter a vigil and church service held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub.
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Susan Stephens, right, gets a hug from Karen Castelloes before a vigil and prayer service is held at Joy Meropolitan Community Church very close to Pulse nightclub.
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Investigators view the site of the early morning mass shooting on June 12, 2016, at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
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People hold signs in support of the Orlando shooting victims on Sunday.
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Kelvin Cobaris, a local clergyman, consoles Orlando city commissioner Patty Sheehan (right) and Terry DeCarlo, an Orlando gay-rights advocate, as they arrive on the scene near where at least 50 people were reportedly shot and killed in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016.
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Aerial view of the shooting scene at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
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A bomb disposal unit checks for explosives around the apartment building where shooting suspect Omar Mateen is believed to have lived on June 12, 2016 in Fort Pierce, Florida.
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Ray Rivera, a DJ at Pulse nightclub, is consoled by a friend outside of the Orlando Police Department after 50 people were killed at the club on Sunday.
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Orlando police officers outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on Sunday.
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Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida, right, is comforted by an Orlando Police officer after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday.
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An aerial view of the shooting scene at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Red Huber / Orlando Sentinel)
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center, and others have a moment of silence on June 12, 2016, in West Hollywood for the victims of the shooting in Orlando, Fla., that happened early that morning.
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Emergency personnel at Orlando Regional Medical Center wait with stretchers for the arrival of victims from the fatal nightclub shooting.
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A police officer stands guard outside the Orlando Regional Medical Center after a fatal shooting at nearby Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday.
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Law enforcement agencies and local city representatives speak at a news conference after 50 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
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An Orange County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Department SWAT member arrives at Pulse nightclub.
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Orlando police direct family members away from the Pulse nightclub, where 50 people were killed.
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Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford wait down the street from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)
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Bystanders wait down the street after a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
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The scene outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., after the shooting early Sunday.
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An injured person is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage Sunday morning in Orlando, Fla.
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An injured man is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage Sunday morning in Orlando, Fla. A gunman with an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a gay nightclub, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said.
(Steven Fernandez / Associated Press) “You do not speak for us,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “You do not represent us. You are an aberration. You are an outlaw. You don’t speak for our faith. “
He continued, railing against the extremists: “They never belong in this beautiful faith. They claim to. But 1.7 billion people are united in rejecting their extremism, interpretation and their acts and senseless violence.”
Brandon Wolf escaped the Orlando massacre by hiding in the bathroom. But he couldn’t find his friend Drew.
“Please Drew. Please,” he tweeted at 6:39 a.m.
He braced himself for the worst.
“Lord give me strength,” he wrote.
Then Wolf heard news he didn’t expect: His other friend Juan was among those killed in the attack.
Devastated, he grieved and waited for word of Drew.
More than 15 hours after the attack, he tweeted again: “I want to thank you for all your prayers. And thoughts. But we lost them both. 2day is a sad day for earth and an incredible day for heaven.”
At an Orlando hospital, Shawn Roysten, who survived the shooting, waited at the side of friends who fared less well, including one who was shot five times.
Roysten, a New York resident in town to visit family, had gone to the club as part of its Latin night. He arrived about 12:30 a.m. When the gunfire started, Roysten ran out and hid behind a fence, said his mother, Helene.
The bullets just kept coming, penetrating the fence. “There were so many bodies, so much blood,” Roysten told his mother.
Mozingo and Pearce reported from Los Angeles and Wilkinson from Orlando. Contributing to this report was the staff of the Orlando Sentinel; Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Del Quentin Wilber in Washington, Sarah Parvini in Los Angeles and Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Orlando; and the Associated Press.
UPDATES:
June 13, 1:30 a.m: This article has been updated with a report confirming that Eddie Justice was among those killed.
June 12, 9:42 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional details and background.
8:53 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional details and background.
5:59 p.m.: This article has been updated with comments from Omar Mateen’s ex-wife and additional details on wounded and the FBI investigation.
2:13 p.m.: This article has been updated with reports that the gunman had previously been investigated for terror ties and that the guns were purchased legally.
12:12 p.m.: This article has been updated with a report that Islamic State is claiming the gunman was a fighter for the group, and with additional remarks by President Obama.
11:06 a.m.: This article has been throughout with additional details and background.
8:09 a.m.: This article has been throughout with additional details and background, including an updated death toll.
6:50 a.m.: This article has been updated with a preliminary identification of the gunman.
4:37 a.m.: This article has been updated with a revised death toll.
4:18 a.m.: This article has been updated with reports of multiple deaths.
3:38 a.m.: This article has been updated with comments from witnesses.
3:20 a.m.: This article has been updated with police reporting a “mass casualty situation.”
3:01 a.m.: This article has been updated with police reporting the gunman is dead.
2:16 a.m.: This article has been updated with witness quotes.
1:51 a.m.: This article has been updated with a police department update.
1:47 a.m.: This article has been updated with witness quotes.
1:36 a.m.: This article has been updated with a report a bomb squad as been called in.
This article was originally published at 1:20 a.m.
