Time to throw the rest of the family out of the country.
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Family members wait for word from police after arriving down the street from a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando.
The gunman suspected of killing 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando and wounding dozens more has "some connection to ISIS," Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said Sunday in a press conference.
The gunman has been identified by relatives and law-enforcement sources as 29-year-old Omar Saddiqui Mateen of Fort Pierce, Florida.
Police are in the process of notifying the shooter's next-of-kin, so have not officially confirmed his name.
Law enforcement confirmed that the incident is being treated as an act of terrorism. The FBI special agent in charge said there were indications that Mateen subscribed to a radical Islamic ideology, and Rep. Adam Schiff — the Democratic ranking member on the House Intelligence committee — said that Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
The Islamic State said in a recent message to followers that they should mount attacks during this month, which is the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Mateen's connection to ISIS does not necessarily mean he was in direct contact with the radical jihadists, or that the group directed him to carry out the attack.
The overnight shooting at Pulse nightclub — a gay club in central Orlando — is the deadliest shooting in US history, with more fatalities than either the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 (32 dead) and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 (27 dead).
Mateen, a US citizen, was born in New York in 1986 to parents from Afghanistan, multiple media outlets have reported. An FBI representative said he "was organized and well-prepared."
Mateen worked as a security guard in Fort Pierce and rented a car to drive to Orlando and carry out the attack, CNN's Evan Perez reported, and was "on the radar" of law enforcement officials for some time.
He was looked into by federal authorities once in 2013 and again in 2014, and the FBI investigated him briefly before closing the case, a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.
Photos from Mateen's MySpace page show him wearing New York Police Department gear. Mateen had no association with the department, the NYPD told TMZ, and the shirts were unofficial garments.
Mir Seddique, Mateen's father, told NBC News that his son's actions had "nothing to do with religion." He said that his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting.
"We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country," Seddique said.
The leader of Orlando's Islamic faith community, Muhammad Musri, urged people not to rush to judgment or "sensationalize" the shooting.
"I call on my fellow faith leaders ... please pray for the victims and their families at this hour," he said during a press conference. "I want to caution anyone from rushing to judgment or sensationalizing the story, because we do not want the focus of the story to shift from what it is: a horrible tragedy. We are mourning, we are heartbroken."
Mateen entered Pulse shortly before 2 a.m. after exchanging fire with an off-duty police officer working security at the club, police said in a press conference. He was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, according to law-enforcement officials' description of the incident. TMZ has reported that Mateen had a state firearms license.
Mateen barricaded himself inside the nightclub and took hostages just after 2 a.m. and was negotiating with police when he gave them his name, according to CNN. A SWAT team entered the club about three hours later, after ensuring Mateen did not have a bomb, and shot the suspect.
At least 53 people were wounded and have been transported to local hospitals. About 320 people were inside the nightclub at the time of the shooting, according to Orlando police. A state of emergency has been declared.
"Everyone get out of pulse and keep running," the nightclub said on its Facebook page at 2:09 a.m.
Pulse markets itself as "Orlando's premier gay nightclub." It was Latin night at the club, according to its Facebook page.
