On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, June 13, 2016

The American flag is flown at half staff over the White House in Washington, Sunday, June 12, 2016, after President Barack Obama spoke about the massacre at an
Orlando nightclub. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Associated Press

 Worst mass shooting in U.S. history: 50 slain at gay nightclub 

MIKE SCHNEIDER                  the bullets could hardly     terrorism and probing the       two men kissing in Miami        the matter publicly and
Associated Press                miss. He shot at police. He  background of Mateen, a         and said that might be re-      spoke on condition of ano-
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — It         took hostages.               29-year-old American citi-      lated to the assault.           nymity. The shooter in 2013
had been an evening of          When the gunfire finally     zen from Fort Pierce, Flori-    Mateen’s ex-wife said his       made inflammatory com-
drinking, dancing and drag      stopped, 50 people were      da, who had worked as a         family was from Afghani-        ments to co-workers, and
shows. After hours of revelry,  dead and dozens critically   security guard.                 stan but that her ex-hus-       Mateen was interviewed
the party-goers crowding        wounded in the deadli-       At least 53 people were         band was born in New York.      twice, FBI agent Ronald
the gay nightclub known as      est mass shooting in mod-    hospitalized, most in criti-    His family later moved to       Hopper said. He called
the Pulse took their last sips  ern U.S. history. Mateen,    cal condition, officials said.  Florida. A law enforcement      those interviews inconclu-
before the place closed.        who authorities said had     A surgeon at Orlando Re-        official said the gunman        sive. In 2014, Hopper said,
That’s when authorities say     pledged allegiance to Is-    gional Medical Center said      made a 911 call from the        officials found that Mateen
Omar Mateen emerged,            lamic State in a 911 call    the death toll was likely to    club in which he professed      had ties to an American
carrying an AR-15 and           shortly before the attack,   climb. “There’s blood ev-       allegiance to the leader of     suicide bomber. He de-
spraying the helpless crowd     died in a battle with SWAT   erywhere,” Orlando Mayor        the Islamic State, Abu Bakr     scribed the contact as min-
with bullets. Witnesses said    team members.                Buddy Dyer said.                al-Baghdadi.                    imal, saying it did not con-
he fired relentlessly — 20      Authorities immediately be-  The gunman’s father re-         The official was familiar with  stitute a threat at the time.
rounds, 40, then 50 and         gan investigating whether    called that his son recently    the investigation but was
more. In such tight quarters,   the assault was an act of    got angry when he saw           not authorized to discuss              Continued on Page 3