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"Fifty victims in one location, one shooting, is absolutely one of the worst tragedies we've seen." "It's absolutely terrible," Mina said during a news briefing. or during the shootout with 11 police officers three hours later. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said that the toll from this latest mass slaughter could have been even greater, saying that a SWAT team "rescued at least 30 possible victims and brought them to safety." Police said they were not able to say if all of the people killed or injured were shot during the initial burst of gunfire at 2 a.m. Until Sunday, the 2007 rampage at Virginia Tech - which saw 32 people killed and 30 others injured - was the country's worst mass shooting. Police had said earlier Sunday that 20 people were killed before saying that the toll was significantly higher. In a message Sunday, the Islamic State appeared to take credit for the attack, but it remains unclear if the gunman had any connections to the group or if they had any prior knowledge. Mateen legally bought the two guns believed to be used in the attack legally within "the last few days," according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2013, Hopper said agents investigated Mateen after he made "inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible ties to terrorists." Mateen was interviewed twice and, when investigators were unable to verify the details of his comments, the FBI closed the probe, Hopper said. Ron Hopper of the FBI said that Mateen had twice been investigated by the bureau and that in both cases, he was investigated before the probes were concluded. "The armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida which left over 100 people dead or injured was carried out by an Islamic State fighter." Islamic State's Amaq news agency said that the Islamist militant group was responsible for the shooting. Much like Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two brothers who carried out that attack, Mateen had also been the focus of an FBI investigation before carrying out an attack. Mateen also made a reference to the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon during this call, officials said. The gunman, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, apparently made a 911 call before the attack identifying himself and pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, according to US law enforcement officials who asked not to be identified to discuss the ongoing investigation. It was not immediately clear if the death toll included the gunman. Police said that after a first round of gunshots at 2 am local time, the shooter took hostages for about three hours, until officers who went inside to rescue these people killed the gunman in a shootout. Omar Mateen mentioned Islamic State in a 911 call before the attack, officials have said. "And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage, and in resolve to defend our people." "We know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate," Obama said during remarks at the White House. President Barack Obama said the FBI was investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism, an announcement he made about 12 hours after the gunfire began at Pulse, a popular gay bar and dance club. The gunman who opened fire inside a crowded nightclub here early Sunday morning, launching a rampage that killed 50 people and injured 53 others in the deadliest shooting spree in the country's history, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before the attack, according to US law enforcement officials.
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He pledged his allegiance to Isis before the massacre.Mateen shot dead three hours after massacre began.Police used an explosive device to distract the gunman.At least 50 people killed and 53 injured in the attack.US citizen Omar Mateen opened fire inside gay nightclub.