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A gunman opened fire inside a crowded nightclub in Orlando, Fla., around 2 a.m. Sunday June 12, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others in a rampage. It was the deadliest mass shootingin the country’s history. Related: [‘They took too damn long’: Inside the police response to the Orlando shooting]
By The Washington Post
Updated Aug. 1 at 2:56 p.m.
Back door
Patio
Bar
Main
dance
floor
Toilet
VIP
area
Stage
Stage
Bar
Entrance
Restrooms
Emergency
exit
Back door
Patio
Bar
Main
dance
floor
Toilet
VIP
area
Stage
Stage
Bar
Entrance
Restrooms
Emergency
exit
How the attack unfolded
How the attack unfolded
This account, based on interviews with law enforcement officials and witnesses, as well as public records and other information, provides the most complete picture yet of law enforcement’s response and the gunman’s movements inside the club where he carried out the attack.
Entrance
1:42
The shooter enters the club, pays and gets a wristband. He goes into the main room of the club, where he stands while people dance. He stays there for nearly 10 minutes and then leaves the club.
Main dance floor
2:02
He enters the club again with an assault-style rifle. He begins firing as he walks onto the main dance floor, where he continues to shoot for more than a minute.
Main dance floor
Rear bar
2:03 to 2:07
For approximately four minutes, the gunman moves between the main dance floor and the rear bar repeatedly, shooting victims on the ground and reloading his gun.
Patio
Restrooms
Window
2:07
The gunman enters the restroom area. He fires at least 30 shots over 90 seconds.
2:07
Four police officers enter through the patio. At least one has a long gun and another has a shield. According to the FBI, they engage with the shooter at 2:08 a.m. Shortly after, six more officers enter through a window. By about 2:18 a.m, the police have control of the dance floor and the shooter is barricaded in the restroom.
2:35
Mateen calls 911. He claims to be the shooter and pledges allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. Mateen has three more conversations with police negotiators: 2:48, 3:03 and 3:24.
Dressing
room
4:21
Officers pull out an air conditioning unit from a dressing room window to let victims evacuate. Eight people who had been hiding inside are saved.
Restroom
walls
5:02
After a three-hour standoff, SWAT officers use explosives and an armored vehicle to break through the restroom walls.
5:08
The FBI says that police engage the shooter again.
5:14
More people escape through the two- to three-foot hole, followed by the gunman. He exchanges fire with police again and is killed.
How the attack unfolded
This account, based on interviews with law enforcement officials and witnesses, as well as public records and other information, provides the most complete picture yet of law enforcement’s response and the gunman’s movements inside the club where he carried out the attack.
1:42
The shooter enters the club, pays and gets a wristband. He goes into the main room of the club, where he stands while people dance. He stays there for nearly 10 minutes and then leaves the club.
Entrance
2:02
He enters the club again with an assault-style rifle. He begins firing as he walks onto the main dance floor, where he continues to shoot for more than a minute.
Main dance floor
2:03 to 2:07
For approximately four minutes, the gunman moves between the main dance floor and the rear bar repeatedly, shooting victims on the ground and reloading his gun.
Main dance floor
Rear bar
2:07
The gunman enters the restroom area. He fires at least 30 shots over 90 seconds.
Patio
2:07
Four police officers enter through the patio. At least one has a long gun and another has a shield. According to the FBI, they engage with the shooter at 2:08 a.m. Shortly after, six more officers enter through a window. By about 2:18 a.m, the police have control of the dance floor and the shooter is barricaded in the restroom.
Restrooms
Police enter
through
window
2:35
Mateen calls 911. He claims to be the shooter and pledges allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. Mateen has three more conversations with police negotiators: 2:48, 3:03 and 3:24.
Dressing
room
4:21
Officers pull out an air conditioning unit from a dressing room window to let victims evacuate. Eight people who had been hiding inside are saved.
5:02
After a three-hour standoff, SWAT officers use explosives and an armored vehicle to break through the restroom walls.
5:08
The FBI says that police engage the shooter again.
Restroom
walls
5:14
More people escape through the two- to three-foot hole, followed by the gunman. He exchanges fire with police again and is killed.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
How the attack unfolded
This account, based on interviews with law enforcement officials and witnesses, as well as public records and other information, provides the most complete picture yet of law enforcement’s response and the gunman’s movements inside the club where he carried out the attack.
1:42
The shooter enters the club, pays and gets a wristband. He goes into the main room of the club, where he stands while people dance. He stays there for nearly 10 minutes and then leaves the club.
Entrance
2:02
He enters the club again with an assault-style rifle. He begins firing as he walks onto the main dance floor, where he continues to shoot for more than a minute.
Main dance floor
2:03 to 2:07
For approximately four minutes, the gunman moves between the main dance floor and the rear bar repeatedly, shooting victims on the ground and reloading his gun.
Main dance floor
Rear bar
2:07
The gunman enters the restroom area. He fires at least 30 shots over 90 seconds.
Patio
2:07
Four police officers enter through the patio. At least one has a long gun and another has a shield. According to the FBI, they engage with the shooter at 2:08 a.m. Shortly after, six more officers enter through a window. By about 2:18 a.m, the police have control of the dance floor and the shooter is barricaded in the restroom.
Restrooms
Police enter
through
window
2:35
Mateen calls 911. He claims to be the shooter and pledges allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. Mateen has three more conversations with police negotiators: 2:48, 3:03 and 3:24.
Dressing room
4:21
Officers pull out an air conditioning unit from a dressing room window to let victims evacuate. Eight people who had been hiding inside are saved.
5:02
After a three-hour standoff, SWAT officers use explosives and an armored vehicle to break through the restroom walls.
5:08
The FBI says that police engage the shooter again.
Restroom
walls
5:14
More people escape through the two- to three-foot hole, followed by the gunman. He exchanges fire with police again and is killed.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Witnesses and others said the shooting left behind a gruesome scene. A doctor at a nearby hospital said victims came in with their bodies riddled with gunshots.
Ricardo J. Negron commented on the club’s Facebook page several hours after the attack: “I was there. Shooter opened fire @ around 2:00am. People on the dance floor and bar got down on the floor and some of us who were near the bar and back exit managed to go out through the outdoor area and just ran. I am safely home and hoping everyone gets home safely as well :(”
[Gunman who killed 49 in Orlando nightclub had pledged allegiance to ISIS]
An injured person is escorted out of the Pulse club after the shooting. (Steve Fernandez/AP)
The helmet an officer was wearing when responding to the shooting. (Orlando Police Department/AP)
The shooter has been identified.
The suspected gunman was identified by relatives and law enforcement officials as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old from Fort Pierce, Fla. He was armed with a 9mm semiautomatic Glock 17 pistoland a .223-caliber Sig Sauer MCX AR-15-style assault rifle, both of which were purchased legally in the previous few days, according to ATF. Investigators also said they found a third gun in Mateen’s car.
Photo taken from Mateen’s Myspace page.
Daytona
Beach
Orlando
4
75
Atlantic
Ocean
4
Tampa
Fort
Pierce
St. Petersburg
FLORIDA
Lake
Okeechobee
Fort
Myers
Gulf
of
Mexico
Fort Lauderdale
75
50 MILES
Miami
Orlando
4
75
Atlantic
Ocean
4
Tampa
Fort
Pierce
St. Petersburg
FLORIDA
Lake
Okeechobee
Fort
Myers
Gulf
of
Mexico
Fort Lauderdale
75
50 MILES
Miami
Photo taken from Mateen’s Myspace page.
According to the FBI, Mateen spoke with 911 operators and Orlando police negotiators multiple times during the three hours he held hostages in the club. During those conversations, he called himself an Islamist soldier, pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, and claimed to have explosive vests and bombs with him and in his car. (Police found no explosives afterward.) Ron Hopper of the FBI said Mateen had been investigated and interviewed twice by the bureau before the probes were concluded.
[The Islamic State’s suspected inroads into America]
This is America’s deadliest mass shooting.
The 50 deaths in Orlando, which included the shooter, made the Pulse shooting the deadliest in U.S. history. Here are death tolls in the worst U.S. mass shootings since 1966, which include shooters who died.
Sandy
Hook
Columbine
Va.
Tech
Pulse
’99
’07
’12
’16
’66
Columbine
(15)
Virginia
Tech (33)
Sandy
Hook
(28)
Pulse
nightclub
At least
50 dead
1966
1999
2007
2012
2016
Number of people killed and injured
in the 25 deadliest mass shootings
in the U.S.
Pulse Nightclub shooting, 2016
50
53
Virginia Tech massacre, 2007
33
23
Newtown school shooting, 2012
28
2
Luby's massacre, 1991
24
20
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, 1984
22
19
University of Texas shooting, 1966
17
30
Inland Regional Center shooting, 2015
16
21
Columbine High School massacre, 1999
15
24
U.S. Postal Service shooting, 1986
15
6
Binghamton shootings, 2009
14
4
Atlanta day trading spree killings, 1999
13
13
Fort Hood massacre, 2009
13
30
Washington Navy Yard shooting, 2013
13
8
Aurora theater shooting, 2012
12
58
GMAC massacre, 1990
11
4
Red Lake massacre, 2005
10
5
Umpqua Comm. College shooting, 2015
10
7
Manley Hot Springs shooting, 1984
9
1
Standard Gravure shooting, 1989
9
12
101 California Street shootings, 1993
9
6
Westroads Mall shooting, 2007
9
4
Hartford Beer Distributor shooting, 2010
9
2
Charleston Church Shooting, 2015
9
1
Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, 1999
8
7
Living Church of God shooting, 2005
8
4
Number of people killed and injured in the 25 deadliest mass shootings in the U.S.
Pulse Nightclub shooting, 2016
50
53
33
23
Virginia Tech massacre, 2007
28
2
Newtown school shooting, 2012
24
20
Luby's massacre, 1991
22
19
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, 1984
17
30
University of Texas shooting, 1966
16
21
Inland Regional Center shooting, 2015
15
24
Columbine High School massacre, 1999
15
6
U.S. Postal Service shooting, 1986
14
4
Binghamton shootings, 2009
13
13
Atlanta day trading spree killings, 1999
13
30
Fort Hood massacre, 2009
13
8
Washington Navy Yard shooting, 2013
12
58
Aurora theater shooting, 2012
11
4
GMAC massacre, 1990
10
5
Red Lake massacre, 2005
10
7
Umpqua Comm. College shooting, 2015
9
1
Manley Hot Springs shooting, 1984
9
12
Standard Gravure shooting, 1989
9
6
101 California Street shootings, 1993
9
4
Westroads Mall shooting, 2007
9
2
Hartford Beer Distributor shooting, 2010
9
1
Charleston Church Shooting, 2015
8
7
Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, 1999
8
4
Living Church of God shooting, 2005
[Read more about each incident: The math of mass shootings]
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