50 Reported Dead, 53 Injured In Shooting At Fl. Club

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 8:26 am

Possibility of terrorism is being considered.

Jeebus. I hope not.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 8:30 am

Yeah. So sad.

Better to reserve judgement until facts are known about motive.

I just got in to work and having a hard time imagining betting on shift when something like this happens. I suppose we'd all go into auto pilot but still. Gah.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 8:50 am

CNN is reporting it as domestic terror.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:08 am

So terrible to wake up to news like this.

All we know right now is that The Pulse is an LGBTQ bar, the killer arrived and began killing patrons, he barricaded himself in with hostages in a standoff, and then police rushed in to take him down.

The FBI has suggested that the suspect had radical jihadist leanings.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. Agent Ron Hopper said they cannot rule this out as an act of domestic terrorism and that the suspect, who is not from Orlando, may have leanings toward extreme Islamic ideologies.

WYBaugh · Post by **WYBaugh** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:46 am

Orlando is not having a good weekend.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:48 am

Second morning in a row I've woken up to news alerts about gun violence in Orlando. The shooter is from Port St Lucie, where I live. Orlando is 2 hours north. That seems like a hell of a drive to commit this crime. West Palm Beach is 45 minutes south. I'm curious to find out what his motive was.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:03 am

This is ugly. Horrible tragedy with potential huge blowback. He has been identified as a US citizen who was a son of afghan immigrants.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:13 am

This is simply horrific. My prayers go out to all involved and I hope that those injured survivors all pull through. As far as the shooter.... rest in hell, you piece of shit.

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:35 am

Now reported at least 50 dead, making it the largest terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. Horrific.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:37 am

The Orange County sheriff just stated in a news conference that the shooter was strapped with an explosive device. They are clearing the building the ensure there are no secondary devices.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:49 am

Captain Caveman wrote:Now reported at least 50 dead, making it the largest terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. Horrific.

I'm still trying to get my mind around this. Not that I've become numb to gun violence, it's just hard to process exactly what happened. An absolutely horrific story so far and I'm guessing it's going to get worse.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:10 am

Covering the last press conference, and couldn't believe when they said 50 dead, 53 injured. Some interesting tidbits:

The FBI refused to clarify whether it will be classified as terrorism, a hate crime, or assault. I wonder if that's because his earlier comment of "we think he leaned [islamic]" turned into people saying he was radicalized. They also brought out the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida to condemn the attack.

The family of the shooter hasn't been notified yet. Once they do we will get confirmation of the identity. But video shows cops lining up outside his home here in Port St Lucie. I guess waiting for a search warrant.

And from earlier reports, I believe the SWAT team burst through a bathroom wall Kool-Aid man style to take the shooter down. One officer was shot in the head, but his Kevlar helmet saved his life.

Default · Post by **Default** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:11 am

<insert bitter and sarcastic remark here>

Son of one of my fb friends was a valet there, and managed to escape injury.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:12 am

Local news casually speculating if there was a second shooter out there, but authorities answered that question during the press conference and clearly said there was no evidence of a second shooter.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:20 am

Wait....one guy managed to shoot 90+ people, killing over 50 of them?

What the hell was he armed with?!? I mean, mass shooters aren't exactly unknown in this country, but even the best of them usually struggle to break double digits. Hell, that Aurora guy was armed to the teeth in a target-rich environment and he only got 12.

I don't want to understate the tragedy here, because that's obvious. It's horrific. I'm just blown away as to HOW this guy managed this.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:22 am

FWIW - NBC already tracked down the alleged shooter's father.

Mir Seddique, Mateen's father told NBC News, "this has nothing to do with religion." Seddique said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting. "We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country," Seddique said.

WYBaugh · Post by **WYBaugh** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:26 am

Looking at a timeline shows the guy engaged the police officer at the club at 2:00 am then went into the club. They didn't take him down until 5:55 am. I've heard that they stated it was a hostage situation...was he holed up and not shooting for 4 hours or did he terrorize the poor people the entire time?

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:27 am

This is horrific. I can't even begin to wrap my head around this sort of tragedy.

Between the anti-gay and anti-Muslim rhetoric I'm seeing start to fly around, I think I need to simply retreat from social media for today.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:31 am

Little Raven wrote:Wait....one guy managed to shoot 90+ people, killing over 50 of them?

What the hell was he armed with?!? I mean, mass shooters aren't exactly unknown in this country, but even the best of them usually struggle to break double digits. Hell, that Aurora guy was armed to the teeth in a target-rich environment and he only got 12.

I don't want to understate the tragedy here, because that's obvious. It's horrific. I'm just blown away as to HOW this guy managed this.

Some blind guesses -the venue is conducive to this type of violence- people probably didn't realize there was shooting for quite some time due to the music and the places are often packed. Each shot was potentially deadly to multiple people at once for quite some period of time. Also these clubs aren't often one room - you can't see what is happening somewhere else in the club. All speculation but this is different than a theater which is wide open, has multiple exits that are easier to find than in a club, and people knew what was happening immediately.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:37 am

Skinypupy wrote:This is horrific. I can't even begin to wrap my head around this sort of tragedy.

Between the anti-gay and anti-Muslim rhetoric I'm seeing start to fly around:(

People are blaming the victims?

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:39 am

The loud music meant a lot of people didn't hear anything at first. One person said she turned around to tell her friend that someone was setting off firecrackers, but her friend had a hole in her arm.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:40 am

malchior wrote:Some blind guesses -the venue is conducive to this type of violence- people probably didn't realize there was shooting for quite some time due to the music and the places are often packed. Each shot was potentially deadly to multiple people at once for quite some period of time. Also these clubs aren't often one room - you can't see what is happening somewhere else in the club. All speculation but this is different than a theater which is wide open, has multiple exits that are easier to find than in a club, and people knew what was happening immediately.

Yeah, as I think about it more, you probably also have a lot of people that are...judgment impaired...from either alcohol or other, stronger substances. May make them slower on the ball.

But even so....I'm wondering if there weren't bombs or extreme police delay or some other factor thrown in. Otherwise that number just seems ridiculously high.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:49 am

hepcat wrote:
Skinypupy wrote:This is horrific. I can't even begin to wrap my head around this sort of tragedy.

Between the anti-gay and anti-Muslim rhetoric I'm seeing start to fly around:(
People are blaming the victims?

My cousin said something to the effect of "If they hadn't been at that sort of place, they wouldn't have been killed." Followed up by telling everyone he's off to church.

Makes my blood absolutely boil.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:54 am

Makes me happy that my church is openly inclusive. Even had my transgender friend come by to speak about her experiences. Guess I don't understand anyone who claims to be Christian and not try to love everyone. Oh well, this is horrific enough without making it a RP topic

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:57 am

I have little trouble believing that a man armed with an automatic rifle could kill 50 plus people by firing into a densely packed dance floor. Ive been to a few clubs in Detroit and Chicago where you had hundreds of people on the dance floor. These places have huge ballroom type dance floors and I dont know if the place in Florida is the same but firing an automatic rifle into a densely pack crowd would certainly do maximum damage.

Wanted to add that the guy was apparently using an AR-15. There are kits available that can push the fire rate on those up to 600 rounds per minute.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 12:32 pm

Ugh, this is leveling me so completely. Not even sure what to say at this point.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 12:37 pm

Skinypupy wrote:Makes my blood absolutely boil.

That's absolutely vile. I can barely take it when strangers or public figures say these types of things. If a family member or someone I knew said it in my presence? It's unfathomable.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 12:45 pm

rshetts2 wrote:I have little trouble believing that a man armed with an automatic rifle could kill 50 plus people by firing into a densely packed dance floor. Ive been to a few clubs in Detroit and Chicago where you had hundreds of people on the dance floor. These places have huge ballroom type dance floors and I dont know if the place in Florida is the same but firing an automatic rifle into a densely pack crowd would certainly do maximum damage.

Wanted to add that the guy was apparently using an AR-15. There are kits available that can push the fire rate on those up to 600 rounds per minute.

Even unmodified, 90 rounds per minute is doable, and there are comments from witnesses that said the firing seemed to go on for the length of a entire song.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:14 pm

Smoove_B wrote:
Skinypupy wrote:Makes my blood absolutely boil.
That's absolutely vile. I can barely take it when strangers or public figures say these types of things. If a family member or someone I knew said it in my presence? It's unfathomable.

My wife has numerous gay friends and been to gay nightclub and bars with them.

I fucking hate the human race sometimes to release this type of hate.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:18 pm

Can we update the thread title?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:24 pm

msteelers wrote:Can we update the thread title?

Done, with CNN's latest.

Default · Post by **Default** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:25 pm

Comments on fb make me want to drive to Fla to kick one guy in the nuts as hard as I can and then take steroids so I can kick him harder.

When are we as a nation going to get real about this shit?

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:26 pm

msteelers wrote:Local news casually speculating if there was a second shooter out there, but authorities answered that question during the press conference and clearly said there was no evidence of a second shooter.

One of the witnesses in multiple news stories I've read claimed there were two shooters. Just goes to show how chaotic it can get in the moment. They are also now reporting that the shooter was born here in 86 to Afghan immigrants.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:33 pm

Yup. Born here in Port St Lucie where I live. I have to drive by his parents house on my way home from work. The authorities are there now searching it.

Aliasbuck · Post by **Aliasbuck** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 2:28 pm

What a horrible thing to wake up to this morning. This place not too far away from me - maybe 5 miles in a straight line, 10 by driving around all the lakes. Not a bad neighborhood and certainly not one you'd expect something horrible like this to happen. It's also about 5 miles from the Plaza Live theater where the other incident happened.

Not a good week for the city at all. The big news was supposed to be the enhancements at Disney to go with the new Finding Nem...Dory movie and the King Kong ride in technical rehearsals. Instead - two high profile murder incidents

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 2:56 pm

I wonder where this guy got his training. I've worried for years what would happen when one of these shootings was performed by someone who actually knew how to use his weapons.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 2:57 pm

ISIS have claimed it. Wonderful. Most likely lone wolf attack.
@rcallimachi on Twitter.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:14 pm

Another person arrested with "an arsenal" in his car at LA Pride Festival

Authorities took a suspect into custody in West Hollywood, California, after discovering an arsenal in his car that included explosive powder, assault weapons and a camouflage outfit, CNN affiliate KABC reported, citing unnamed authorities.

Stay safe out there people.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:36 pm

The ATF just said he legally purchased his weapons *this week*. I've already seen some Senators say it would be either a gun policy or a terrorism discussion. It'll probably morph into both.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:53 pm

If nothing was done after Sandy Hook I can't imagine this will be anything other than a data point. I just read there's been close to a 1000 mass shootings since Sandy Hook and nothing has changed. It's all just so terribly depressing and hours later I'm still having troubling processing it.