Police
reported that the suspect, who has since been identified as Omar Mateen,
exchanged gunfire with a uniformed police officer outside of the nightclub.
From
there, Mateen entered the club and opened fire.
Witnesses
recalled hearing multiple rounds of shots, and there was some immediate
confusion because some did not see
the gunfire and just thought the noise was
coming from the music.
Officials
said that there were about 320 people inside the club when the shooting
started.
About
three hours after the shooting first started, a SWAT team went inside to rescue
hostages.
Police
chief John Mina confirmed that 11 Orlando police officers exchanged gunfire
with the shooter, during which the shooter was killed.
All
11 officers have been relieved from duty as is standard state procedure
following an officer-involved shooting.
Shortly
after the SWAT team entered, police instigated a controlled explosion but few
details about the device involved have been released. The Florida Department of
Law Enforcement is reviewing the shooting as part of the operating procedure.
Law
enforcement said later that SWAT rescued 30 people from the club in the raid.
Orlando
police confirmed that the death toll had risen to 50 people dead and 53 others
injured.
That
number makes the shooting the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
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