Death toll of Orlando nightclub shooting revised down to 49

Mateen, 29, was shot dead by police who stormed the Pulse club with armored cars after a three-hour siege.

“We are spending a tremendous amount of time, as you would image, trying to understand every moment of this killer’s path to that awful night in Orlando to understand his motives and to understand the details of his life”, Comey said.

Once Mateen mentioned explosive authorities moved in.

Islamic State, which controls territory in Iraq and Syria, reiterated on Monday a claim of responsibility, although it offered no signs to indicate coordination with the gunman.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are ending the primary calendar with a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that could set the tone for Democratic unity and next month’s party convention in Philadelphia.

His father – an Afghan who immigrated to the United States in the 1980s after Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan – said he met with his son several times a week but had no idea of his plans for violence.

She was working the door at the night club.

When questioned, Orlando Police Chief John Mina stated that he had no information about the alleged sightings. That allowed many patrons to flee, although others were trapped in the restroom with Mateen, leading to a standoff.

“We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater”, he said. “Well that’s not the case right now and the law has to change to fix that”, says former Boston Police Commissioner and WBZ Security Analyst Ed Davis.

Officials said on Sunday the death toll was 50. They both said that Orlando was supportive of the LGBT community. Yusufiy said she married Mateen in 2008 and last saw him in 2009.

Workers removed the bodies four at a time on stretchers and loaded them into white vans. Everyone else in the stall died, Ventura said. “We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them”, she said.

Other family members were desperate for news about their missing loved ones.

“They should protect people that come in the club”.

Kim Amellin stood in the crowd, explaining a Six Degrees of Separation connection with the victims – “I didn’t know any of them, but seeing the names and pictures and hearing their stories, we realised that we had connections”.

Comey said the shooter communicated three times with 911 emergency dispatch.

And as the vigil began in the grounds of the downtown Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer confirmed an investigative marvel – just a little more than 24hrs after the massacre ended at about 5am Sunday, all the victims had been identified and their next of kin formally notified.

Others have said Mateen frequented Pulse, the gay nightclub he attacked Sunday morning. Nusra is an al Qaeda offshoot at odds with Islamic State. He said Muslim communities must turn over to law enforcement “people who they know are bad”, adding “they do know where they are”. His ex-wife described him as mentally unstable and violent toward her. Mateen did not become a police officer and was working as a G4S security guard at the time of his attack.

The two candidates’ dramatically different proposals _ as well as their contrasting styles _ underscored the clear choice Americans face in the November election.

Aahil Khan, 28, of Fort Pierce, Florida, said he used to hang out with Mateen after school when the now infamous gunman attended Martin County High School.

“What he did was completely an act of a terrorist”. “We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times“, Smith said. And I thank you all for coming in here.

On Monday, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey portrayed a shooter with murky but hardline religious views.

The tragedy shocked the nation and cast a pall over Orlando, known the world over as the home of Walt Disney World and other theme parks.