A suspected Islamic extremist, Omar Mateen, 29, has killed 50 people and injured another 53 people at a gay club in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday before being killed by police. One officer was shot in the head but was saved by his helmet. The police also rescued 30 hostages.
[revad1]
And now law enforcement has arrested a man with rifles and bomb materials targeting a gay pride parade in Los Angeles.
The FBI is officially treating this as an act of terrorism and the FBI says the gunman has “leanings to radical Islamic terrorism.”
This comes just days after ISIS released a new “Kill List” saying that ISIS supporters should attack Americans.
House Intelligence Committee member Congressman Adam Schiff said in a statement that the circumstances indicated that this was “an ISIS-inspired act of terrorism.”
“The fact that this shooting took place during Ramadan and that ISIS leadership in Raqqa has been urging attacks during this time, that the target was an LGBT night club during Pride, and – if accurate – that according to local law enforcement the shooter declared his allegiance to ISIS, indicates an ISIS-inspired act of terrorism,” Schiff said. “Whether this attack was also ISIS-directed, remains to be determined. I’m confident that we will know much more in the coming hours and days.”
Mateen was from Port St. Lucie in Florida and was carrying a suspicious device, possibly a suicide vest as well.
Florida has declared a state of emergency as a result of the shooting.
“We are investigating this from all points of perspective as an act of terrorism,” said Special Agent Danny Banks, who is currently in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “Any time we have potentially dozens of victims in any of our communities, then I think we can qualify that as terrorism activity. Whether that is domestic terrorism activity or an international one is certainly something that we will get to the bottom of.”
Details are still forthcoming as the police and FBI sort through the crime scene and investigate surrounding circumstances and the shooter.
Some bodies do remain inside the nightclub and this crime scene and investigation is going to take a long time to sort out because this is the largest shooting massacre in America in modern history.
[revad2]
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
