NYtimes- Shooting at Orlando Nightclub Kills 50, Police Say

By STEVE KENNYJune 12, 2016

About 20 people were killed and at least 42 people were wounded on Sunday when a gunman opened fire inside a nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

Updated
ORLANDO, Fla. — A gunman killed 50 people and wounded 53 in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, officials said, in the worst mass shooting slaughter in American history, and law enforcement officials said it was an act of terrorism.
The gunman was Omar Mateen, an American citizen living in Port St. Lucie, Fla., federal law enforcement officials said.

The killer stormed the Pulse nightclub armed with an assault rifle and a handgun — investigators were still looking into the possibility that he had explosives, as well — at about 2 a.m., when more than 300 people were inside dancing and drinking, said John Mina, the Orlando police chief.
The gunman exchanged fire with an off-duty police officer working security at the club, then mowed down dozens of patrons, sending hundreds of others, some of them bleeding, fleeing down the darkened streets of the surrounding neighborhood.

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The gunman holed up inside with dozens of people effectively held hostage, some of them hiding in a restroom frantically calling for help, until after 5 a.m., when the police, using an armored vehicle and stun grenades, assaulted and killed him. The raid saved about 30 people, Chief Mina said.
Ronald Hopper, an assistant agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Tampa Division, raised the possibility that the killer was an Islamist radical, and law enforcement officials said they were investigating the slaughter as an act of terrorism.
“We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology,” Agent Hopper said at a news conference. “But right now we can’t say definitively, so we’re still running everything around.”
Federal law enforcement officials said they had found no indication so far that the attacker was linked to any wider organization, though they and the police were investigating several possible terrorism angles, both overseas and in the United States. Past terrorist attacks, like the massacre in December in San Bernardino, Calif., were carried out in the name of Islam by people who were “self-radicalized,” apparently having no direct ties to any organization but inspired by groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
The Islamic State in particular has encouraged “lone wolf” attacks in the West, specifically the United States, a point reinforced recently by the group’s spokesman in his annual pre-Ramadan speech. Noting that some supporters have lamented that they cannot strike at military targets, he took pains to explain why killing civilians in the land of the infidel is not just permitted but encouraged.
Terrorist groups have not claimed responsibility for the Orlando shooting as yet, but a social messaging account linked to the Islamic State gloated about the attack.
Local and federal authorities were investigating, and the F.B.I. set up a hotline for tips.
The toll of dead and injured far exceeded the 32 people killed at Virginia Tech in 2007, and the 26 gunned down at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.
Witnesses described a scene of chaos and confusion, saying it was hard at first to realize that the gunshots were not part of the loud, pulsing dance music.
“We were dancing by the hip-hop area when I heard shots, bam, bam, bam, and the only thing I could think of was to duck, but I ran out instead,” said Joel Figueroa, 19, of Orlando, who had been inside. “Everybody was screaming and running toward the front door. I didn’t get to see the shooter.”
He said a friend of his had been shot three times and taken to a hospital.
President Obama was briefed on the attack by Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, the White House said, and asked to receive regular updates on the investigation.
The gunman was shot by SWAT officers who stormed Pulse, one of the largest gay clubs in Orlando, at about 5 a.m. The officers were trying to rescue dozens of people who were being held hostage, Chief Mina said.
The shooting began inside the club, he said, and continued outside when an officer working at Pulse tried to confront him. The gunman then ran back into the club, resumed shooting and took hostages.
At 5 a.m., Chief Mina said, the police decided to attempt a rescue, detonating two explosives to distract the gunman and to help clear the club.
“With that advantage,” the chief said, nine officers moved into the club to confront the gunman. In the ensuing shootout, one of the officers was slightly wounded, saved by his Kevlar helmet, the authorities said.
During the rescue and shootout, officers with the SWAT team — using an armored vehicle — entered the club and hurried people to safety. Many of them had sought shelter in other sections of the sprawling club.
The survivors escaped under the cover of what the police called the two “discretionary explosions.”

Mass shooting: 群体性枪击事件
a crowded gay nightclub/crowded: 拥挤的, 塞满的
in the worst mass shooting slaughter in American history/slaughter屠杀/’slɔtɚ/
assault rifle 突击步枪 -看看是否会忘记发音, 随意看完了维基
looking into 调查, 研究
explosives 爆炸物
exchanged fire 交火
mowed down 射杀 /mow 用镰刀割草
neighborhood 临近区域