ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida was declared the worst mass shooting in U.S. history Sunday.
Police say 50 people were killed inside the Florida nightclub, and at least 53 were wounded. Law enforcement officials say the man behind the shooting is Omar Mateen.
Officials now say that moments before the mass shooting, Mateen called 911 and pledged his allegiance to ISIS.
. @ChiefJohnMina officers shot & killed the suspect. In gunfire OPD officer shot: Kevlar helmet saved him pic.twitter.com/L51ynmRAfm
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
A state of emergency was also declared in the state of Florida after the mass shooting.
Authorities say the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism and investigators are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
OPD first responders and SWAT rescued at least 30 people from inside the club and brought them out alive. pic.twitter.com/KFIdLhxeDI
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016
Mina says the shooter was armed with an assault-type rifle, a handgun and some type of suspicious device. Police had said previously on Twitter that there was a "controlled explosion" at the scene of the shooting at Pulse Orlando. Mina says that noise was caused by a device intended to distract the shooter.
The club, Pulse Orlando, earlier posted on its own Facebook page just after 2 a.m.: "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running."
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