Gunman in Orlando called 911 to pledge loyalty to Islamic State leader amid gay-club slaughter

It had been an evening of drinking, dancing and drag shows. After hours of revelry, the party-goers crowding the gay nightclub known as the Pulse in Orlando, Florida, took their last sips before the place closed.

That's when authorities say Omar Mateen emerged, carrying an AR-15 and spraying the helpless crowd with bullets. Witnesses said he fired relentlessly - 20 rounds, 40, then 50 and more. In such tight quarters, the bullets could hardly miss. He shot at police. He took hostages.

When the gunfire finally stopped, at least 50 people were dead and dozens critically wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Mateen, who authorities said had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a 911 call shortly before the attack, died in a battle with SWAT team members.

Authorities immediately began investigating whether the assault was an act of terrorism and probing the background of Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, who had worked as a security guard.

At least 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition, officials said. A surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb.

"There's blood everywhere," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

The gunman's father recalled that his son recently got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami and said that might be related to the assault.

Mateen's ex-wife said his family was from Afghanistan but that her ex-husband was born in New York. His family later moved to Florida.

A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the club in which he professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The shooter in 2013 made inflammatory comments to co-workers, and Mateen was interviewed twice, FBI agent Ronald Hopper said. He called those interviews inconclusive.

In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber. He described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time.

Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The previous deadliest mass shooting in the US was the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech, where a student killed 32 people before killing himself.

On Sunday afternoon, President Barack Obama addressed the nation for the 20th time following a shooting incident during his White House tenure.

He said the massacre served as a "further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub".

"We have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be," the president urged. "And to actively do nothing is a decision as well."

Some members of Congress have pushed to have gun control conversation once more, even as stricter gun control regulations face an uphill battle in both chambers.

(China Daily USA 06/13/2016 page1)