Left to right: Angel Santiago, Angel Colon and Patience Carter speak to the media on Tuesday, two days after surviving the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who Orlando Police have identified as the suspect in the mass shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 12, 2016.Omar Mateen via Myspace/Handout via REUTERS
She said he aspired to be a police officer and had worked as a correctional officer at a detention centre for juvenile delinquents in Fort Pierce, Fla.
Mateen’s Afghan-born father, Seddique Mateen, is a fringe political commentator who rails against Pakistan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
It’s unclear when Mr. Mateen married his second wife, Noor Salman, but an Aug. 30, 2013, property deed in St. Lucie County identified them as a married couple
Salman was with Mateen when he cased possible targets in the past two months, including the Walt Disney World Resort in April, a shopping complex called Disney Springs and the Pulse nightclub in early June, CNN and NBC reported
When governments, terrorist organizations and religious extremists overseas target homosexuals along with women, religious minorities and others in their catalogue of hate, they increase the risk of their message infecting hate-filled minds in our own societies.
John Ibbitson’s column: A violent reminder to the LGBT community viral hatred makes them targets
Read more from The Globe and Mail’s Opinion section:
Shares of U.S. firearm makers surged on Monday as renewed fears of tighter gun control after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history led to expectations of a spike in firearm sales
In Canada, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies) sponsored a petition last month calling on the federal government to loosen controls around the rifle
The petition asks the Public Safety Minister to reclassify the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and return it to non-restricted status
MURAT YUKSELIR/THE GLOBE AND MAIL SOURCE: GOOGLE MAPS
HOW IT UNFOLDED:
Fifty people were killed early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., making it the worst mass shooting in U.S history.
Before 2:00 a.m.
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, drives a rental van to Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.
2:02 a.m.
Armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon and a handgun, and possibly carrying explosives, Mateen enters the nightclub and opens fire, Orlando police chief John Mina said.
An armed off-duty officer engages in a "gun battle" with Mateen, according to police.
The gunman was outside the club after the first shots were fired, Mina said, then returned inside, and "this did turn into a hostage situation."
Police made contact with the gunman inside the club. "There was some communication, but we are not going to release that right now," the chief said.
It is unknown, Mina said, whether the gunman was killing others inside the club as the authorities prepared cautiously for a confrontation. "Any time we have a hostage situation, we’re definitely going to use extreme measures to make sure we have enough personnel on the scene," he said.
3:00 a.m.
The club posts a message on its Facebook page, "Everyone get out and keep running."
5:00 a.m.
Police detonate two explosives to distract the gunman as a SWAT team of nine officers and an armored vehicle storms the venue. Mateen is killed, and one officer is wounded with minor injuries to the face.
5:48 a.m.
Orlando police confirm that there has been a "mass casualty situation."
7:27 a.m.
Police chief John Mira says about 20 people were killed.
10:09 a.m.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says that the death toll has increased. There are 50 dead and 53 are injured.
With reports from Murat Yukselir and Laurent Bastien and wire services.
