Gunman in Orlando gay club shooting was a regular

Obama said the mass shooting was a “devastating attack on all Americans”.

Church bells tolled as the crowd observed a moment of silence in honor of those who were killed. “Our prayers go to those who have been wounded”, he said during a White House briefing.

“If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be here”, Colon said to the staff of the hospital, his voice shaking with emotion. Dozens of people escaped, and Mateen was gunned down as he emerged through the hole, police said. She said Mateen talked about wanting the U.S.to “stop bombing my country”, a possible reference to his father’s native Afghanistan.

“We see no clear evidence that he was directed externally”.

President Barack Obama has called the attack a case of “homegrown extremism”.

“It also appears that he was also able to obtain these weapons legally because he did not have a criminal record that in some ways would prohibit him from purchasing these weapons”. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. “A couple that was going to get married will now be buried”, he said.

He added: “I wish he was alive – I could ask him”.

In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a mile from the site of the massacre.

Obama made the remarks Monday afternoon following a briefing with the national security team, including FBI Director James Comey and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest did not provide more details about the trip. “They couldn’t see the shooter but they could hear him laughing”, Ventura said, intimating a loud cackling laugh. “And we feel enormous solidarity and grief on behalf of the families that have been affected”.

“The reason for that is there are strong indications of radicalisation by this killer and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organisations”.

The FBI ostensibly took no notice of the political views of Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, an Afghan immigrant who hosts an online political affairs program hostile to the US-backed government in Kabul. He said he last saw Mateen on Friday.

The press account of Robertson’s career surpasses fiction: six years in the US Marines; followed by joining a gang of bank robbers in New York City; then serving as a bodyguard for the “blind sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian-born imam now in prison for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attack; then, after a short prison term, becoming an Federal Bureau of Investigation informer and working in counterterrorism operations in Africa, Egypt and the US from 2004 to 2007 before he was sacked allegedly for assaulting his Central Intelligence Agency controller. In the first call, he said nothing and hung up. The dispatcher called him back and they spoke briefly once again.

During those calls, the gunman said he carried out the attack for Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and pledged allegiance to the militant Islamist organization. He also mentioned Moner Abusalha, an American suicide bomber in Syria.

The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up “no ties of any effect”, Comey said. But he said Mateen was clearly “radicalized”, at least in part via the internet.

Mateen worked as a private security guard at a gated retirement community. His co-workers reported him after he made “inflammatory” and “contradictory” statements.

When asked about an incident a few years ago, which has been widely reported, where Omar Mateen had shown anger after seeing two men kissing each other, Mr Mateen said: “It was a normal reaction (to the kissing), but why should I get mad?” Nevertheless Mateen legally bought a rifle and a handgun. Some of those people did a little more than [kiss] outside the bar.

“Our work is very challenging. We hope that instead you will channel this sense of anxiety into something more positive”.

“Watch that space”, the official said.