"We do have suggestions that the individual may have leanings toward ," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Ronald Hopper, according to the AP. "This is an incident, as I see it, that we certainly classify as domestic terror incident," said Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, according to the AP.įlorida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Danny Banks confirmed to the AP in an interview that the Pulse massacre "is being investigated as an act of terrorism," stating that "authorities are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf." The shooting happened at approximately 2:00 a.m.
Police said that after a first round of gunshots at 2 a.m., the shooter took hostages for about three hours, until officers who went inside to rescue these people killed the gunman in a shootout. ‘Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running,’ the club posted on its Facebook page. Authorities in Orlando said Sunday that the siege at Pulse, a popular gay bar and dance club, was quickly deemed an act of domestic terrorism. law enforcement officials tells my colleagues in our Washington bureau.Īccording to Chief Mina, at 5 A.M., Orlando police " two explosives to distract the gunman and help clear the club," the New York Times reports. &9664Previous Post Next Post Gunfire erupted at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, with multiple injuries reported, Florida authorities said. Cooper, who cut short a European vacation to fly to Florida to cover the shooting, said he preferred to keep his focus on the victims, whose experiences, he said, he easily recognized.Orlando gunman tentatively identified as Omar Mateen, 29, a U.S. Bondi “was clearly unhappy at the end of the interview,” adding: “She intimated that I didn’t like her, and I said, ‘I have no ill will toward you at all, it’s just my job to ask you questions.’”)īut Mr. In a radio interview, she said that all the anchor’s aggressive questioning had done was “encourage anger and hate.” She said that CNN had omitted a portion of the exchange in which she discussed her fund-raising for victims’ families and that the location of the interview, in front of an Orlando hospital, “wasn’t the time nor the place.” 12 June 2016 Eyewitness Anthony Torres fled the scene and filmed as he watched people shooting 'back and forth' Fifty people are now known to have died in a shooting in a gay nightclub in Orlando. Bondi said on Wednesday that she was “disappointed” by Mr. Bondi’s saying she would now work to help relatives of gay victims. Cooper asked, suggesting repeatedly that there was a “sick irony” in Ms. “Do you really think you’re a champion of the gay community?” Mr. In an exchange that spread quickly online, he confronted the Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, with what he said were complaints from gay residents about her office’s legal defense of Florida’s same-sex marriage ban. Cooper’s deeply felt connections with the gay community that was targeted in Orlando. He made his reputation during Hurricane Katrina, when his anguished reports from a decimated New Orleans seemed to channel national frustration with the recovery effort. A shooting and hostage situation early Sunday morning at a Florida nightclub - which describes itself as 'Orlando's hottest gay bar' - left an estimated 50 people dead, including. Cooper is viewed as a more traditional on-air newsman, even if he does not shy away from conveying moral dismay in his coverage. Opinion is the coin of the realm on cable news, where Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity and their brethren hold court nightly. Cooper, who is gay, has seemed to embrace an advocacy role rarely seen among top network anchors, blending on-the-ground reporting with a distinctly personal and empathetic touch. He has held a prime-time vigil of sorts, reciting a list of the dead refused to name the gunman, saying he wanted to focus on victims and, in a widely viewed exchange, grilled Florida’s attorney general for defending a state ban on same-sex marriage. Cooper’s raw, activist-style coverage has stood out. Cooper said he did not like to show his feelings on camera.īut this time, he added, felt different: “I’ve been surprised at how emotional this has been.”Īs the news industry descended on Florida this week in the aftermath of a mass shooting in a gay nightclub, Mr.
Accustomed to covering foreign wars and lethal hurricanes, Mr. Cooper recalled, a bit sheepishly, in an interview on Wednesday. For moments, viewers around the country heard only silence, and then the sounds of the anchor struggling to compose himself. Anderson Cooper was reading the names of victims of the Orlando massacre on CNN this week when, uncharacteristically, his voice wavered and he drew up short.