Where is gay leadership? Condemning me or my colleagues who oppose the most brutal and extreme ideology on the face of the earth.
Where are the left-wing, the gay and LGBT organizations denouncing the Islamic texts that inspire such mayhem and murder of gays? Where is that fierce gay leadership condemning Muslim oppression of gays under the sharia? The silence is deafening.
A suspected Islamic extremist wielding an assault rifle and a handgun has killed about 20 people after taking party-goers hostage inside a gay nightclub in Orlando.
The gunman was carrying a suspicious device, possibly a suicide vest, when he opened fire inside Pulse in the early hours of this morning.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said authorities have not determined the exact number of people killed, but that ‘approximately 20’ have died. Another 42 people were taken to hospital.
An FBI spokesman said the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. He explained authorities are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
Police said the gunman was believed to be in his 20s was not a local man, and the FBI believe he may have ‘leanings to radical Islamic terrorism’.
The killings took place less than four miles from where The Voice singer and YouTube star Christina Grimmie, 22, was shot dead at The Plaza Live in Orlando on Friday.
Party-goers were urged to ‘get out and keep running’ as bullets started flying at around 2am local time.
Eyewitnesses described the gunman having a bomb strapped to himself when he started shooting today.
At around 6.00 local time (11am GMT) police said on Twitter: ‘Pulse Shooting: The shooter inside the club is dead.’ Officers described it as a ‘mass shooting’.
One man who said he was inside the club posted that the shooting broke out around 2 a.m. and that he heard about 40 shots being fired.
Police earlier carried out an controlled explosion at 5.15 local time (10.15am GMT today). but it is not yet clear whether that was linked with the gunman’s death.
It was thought that at least one hostage had been locked in a bathroom with gunshot wounds.
Around 100 officers were involved in the hostage situation before the gunman was killed.
During the gunfire, an officer was shot, but he was saved by his helmet.
Local TV reporter Stewart Moore said that more than 20 people had been shot with an assault rifle.
Jon Alamo said he was at the back of one of the club’s rooms when a man holding a weapon came into the front of the room.
‘I heard 20, 40, 50 shots,’ Alamo said. ‘The music stopped.’
Club-goer Rob Rick said it happened around, 2 a.m., just before closing time. ‘Everybody was drinking their last sip,’ he said.
He estimated more than 100 people were still inside when he heard shots, got on the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth.
A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area in the back where only workers are allowed. People inside were able to then escape through the back of the club.
Christopher Hansen said he was in the VIP lounge when he started hearing gunshots.
‘I was thinking, are you kidding me? So I just dropped down. I just said please, please, please, I want to make it out,’ he said. ‘And when I did, I saw people shot. I saw blood. You hope and pray you don’t get shot.’
He continued to hear shooting even after he emerged, where police were telling people to back away from the club. He saw injured people being tended to across the street.
Mina Justice was outside the club trying to contact her 30-year-old son Eddie, who texted her when the shooting happened and asked her to call police.
He told her he ran into a bathroom with other club patrons to hide. He then texted her: ‘He’s coming.’
‘The next text said: `He has us, and he’s in here with us,” she said. ‘That was the last conversation.’
Ricardo Almodovar was in the nightclub. He said: ‘Shooter opened fire at around 2.00am. People on the dance floor and bar got down on the floor and some of us who were near the bar and back exit managed to go out through the outdoor area and just ran.
‘I am safely home and hoping everyone gets home safely as well.’ Juan Rivera said on Twitter: ‘Never seen so many dead bodies on the floor, God is good that my friends and I didn’t get shot’.
Anthony Torres heard people screaming that others in the nightclub were dead.
Rosie Feba was in the club with her girlfriend and described the moment the shooting happened to the Orlando Sentinal.
She said: ‘Everyone was getting on the floor.I told her [girlfriend] I didn’t think it was real, I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun.’
A police dispatcher described the incident as an ‘active shooting’. Officers are advising locals to stay away from the area.
He said: ‘There are injuries. I am not sure if there are any deceased at this time.’
‘Officers are going in to search the building and to get people out,’ the dispatcher said.
The police department posted on their official Twitter account: ‘Multiple injuries. Stay away from the area.’
Pulse nightclub said on its Facebook account: ‘Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running.’
Dozens of officers and medics are at the scene including Orlando Fire Department’s bomb squad and hazardous material team.
Police have not given any further updates on the hostage situation or the gunman….
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