Sanders Claims Lack of Gun Control Responsible for Orlando Shooting

[longknife]

More proof the man has loose marbles in his skull? This simply cannot be made up.

“I believe that in this country, we should not be selling automatic weapons which are designed to kill people,” Sanders said Sunday. “We have got to do everything that we can on top of that to make sure that guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them, criminals, people who are mentally ill.”

Story w/lots of links and videos @ Sanders Claims He Knows the Real Culprit Behind Orlando Shooting

 

[waltky]

ISIS claims credit for Orlando gun massacre...

Islamic State claims responsibility for Orlando nightclub shooting
Jun 12 2016 - Islamic State's Amaq news agency said on Sunday that the Islamist militant group was responsible for the shooting that killed at least 50 people in a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

"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," Amaq said.

Friends and family members embrace outside the Orlando Police Headquarters in Orlando, Florida​

Islamic State claims responsibility for Orlando nightclub shooting

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Gunman in worst U.S. massacre described as 'quiet' but grew hateful
Jun 12 2016 - The photo from Omar Mateen’s high school yearbook is hardly remarkable - a toothy, dimpled smile with a peach-fuzz mustache below a mop of black hair.

His transformation from high school football player to perpetrator of America's worst mass shooting raises questions about whether red flags were missed over the depth of his apparent sympathies with Muslim extremists. As families of the victims grieved and the nation recoiled at the scale of yet another mass shooting, a picture began to emerge of the 29-year-old killer as a quiet, devout person who in recent years displayed a hateful and violent streak. Early on Sunday, he stormed a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with a handgun and AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, fatally shooting 50 people before police killed him. Fifty-three others were wounded, many critically.

His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, described him as "bipolar," and emotionally disturbed with a violent temper. She said she had been beaten and otherwise physically abused by Mateen during outbursts in which he would "express hatred towards everything". She was "rescued" by family members just four months into a stormy marriage that began in 2009 and ended in divorce, she said. "He would often get into fights with his parents, but as I was the only one in his life most of the violence was directed towards me,” she told reporters in Boulder, Colorado outside a home where she was staying. She said he aspired to be a police officer and had worked as a correctional officer at a detention center for juvenile delinquents in Fort Pierce, Florida, and had once sought admission to a police academy.

An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who Orlando Police have identified as the suspect in the mass shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando, Florida​

In Fort Pierce on Florida’s southeast coast, 120 miles (195 km) from the shooting, the imam at the mosque that Mateen attended for nearly 10 years described him as a regular worshipper who was quiet and rarely interacted with the congregation. "He hardly had any friends," Syed Shafeeq Rahman, who heads the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, told Reuters. "He would come with his little son at night to pray and after he would leave." Rahman said Mateen never approached him regarding any concerns about homosexuals. He usually prayed at the mosque a few times a week, mostly in evenings and as recently as Friday, but he didn't display signs of radicalism, according to fellow worshippers interviewed by Reuters.

Mateen was born in New York of Afghan descent but spent most of his life in Florida, attending Martin County High School in Stuart, a small city about a 20-minute drive from the Fort Pierce condominium where had most recently lived. A classmate described him as a typical teen who played football. A school yearbook image of Mateen was seen by Reuters. Samuel King, who was one year ahead of Mateen, said the two often spoke after Mateen graduated in 2004. King waited tables at Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant at Treasure Coast Square, a mall where Mateen worked at GNC, the nutrition store, he said.

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Father of Orlando shooter hosted political show on Afghan-Pakistan issues
Jun 12 2016 | WASHINGTON - The Afghan-born father of Omar Mateen, the man police identified as the gunman who killed 50 people at a packed gay nightclub in Florida on Sunday, is a fringe political commentator who rails against Pakistan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Seddique Mateen, who public records indicate is the father of Omar Mateen, had an occasional television show on a U.S.-based Afghan satellite channel for about three years, and has continued to post political commentaries on his Facebook page as recently as Sunday. Omar Khatab, the owner of the California-based satellite channel Payam-e-Afghan, said in an interview that Seddique Mateen occasionally bought time on his channel to broadcast a show called "Durand Jirga," which focused in part on the disputed Durand Line, the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan demarcated by the Indian subcontinent's former British rulers.

In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Seddique Mateen, also known as Mir Siddique, said his son's rampage had "nothing to do with religion." He described an incident in downtown Miami in which his son, U.S.-born Omar Mateen, 29, of Florida, saw two men kissing in front of his wife and child and became very angry. "We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident," NBC News quoted Seddique Mateen as saying. "We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country."

Seddique Mateen lives in Florida, according to public records, but it was not immediately known when he came to the United States. He did not return messages left on his phone, which appeared to be turned off, or respond to an email. Khatab said Seddique Mateen would show up at his studio in Canoga Park, California, "three or four times a year" to tape his shows. "He'd talk for about two to three hours," Khatab said in a phone interview. "He'd buy his own time and come here and broadcast and leave within a day."

CRITICAL OF PAKISTAN'S ISI

 

[waltky]

Seems to be an ISIS inspired lone wolf attack...

Orlando killer appears to have been 'homegrown extremist'
Jun 13,`16 -- The gunman whose attack on a gay nightclub left 49 victims dead appears to have been a "homegrown extremist" who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic radical groups, the White House and the FBI said Monday.

As Orlando mourned its dead with flowers, candles and vigils, counterterrorism investigators dug into the background of 29-year-old Omar Mateen for clues to why the American-born Muslim carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," said FBI Director James Comey. But he said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the internet. Comey said the bureau is also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. "We're still working through that," Comey said.

The FBI chief defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether the FBI should have done anything differently, "so far the honest answer is, 'I don't think so,'" Comey said. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at Pulse Orlando early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group. At the White House, President Barack Obama said there is no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism."

Family members of victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting hug outside a family reunification center set up at the Beardall Senior Center, Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla.​

More details of the bloodbath emerged, with Orlando Police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with police negotiators. But the chief said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. Five of the wounded were reported in grave condition, meaning the death toll could rise. A call went out for blood donations. In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a mile from the site of the massacre.

About 300 employees of the Red Lobster restaurant chain - some in business suits, some in chef's uniforms - walked two-by-two across the street to the memorial, each carrying a red or white carnation. "As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist, told a gathering. "It was Latino Night when this tragedy occurred. These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed." Despite Mateen's pledge of fealty to the Islamic State, a murky combination of other possible motives and explanations emerged, with his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill - bipolar - and his Afghan-immigrant father suggesting he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred. He said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss.

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Across the world, shock and condemnation at Orlando massacre
Jun 13,`16 - From across the world, officials and public figures are expressing condemnation and shock over the Florida mass shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub on Sunday, when police say a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle opened fire, killing at least 49 people and wounding dozens.

FRANCE

The Eiffel Tower will shine in the colors of a rainbow on Monday night, starting at 10:45 p.m. (2045 GMT) to honor victims of the mass shooting at an Orlando gay club. Paris City Hall began paying respects in the afternoon with a display of American and rainbow flags, while French President Francois Hollande condemned the mass killing as an attack on freedom. He vowed to toughen the fight against terrorism "at the side of the American people." "It's American that was hit but freedom that was targeted," Hollande said after signing a book of condolences at the U.S. Embassy, "freedom to choose one's sexual orientation, the freedom to determine one's way of life." France feels deeply the horror of deadly attacks after the November terror attacks on a music hall, restaurants and bars and the main sports stadium killed 130. That was preceded by attacks on a satirical newspaper and a kosher grocery store. All were claimed by the Islamic State group.

BRITAIN

With tears, song and defiance, thousands of people gathered in London for a vigil in honor of the victims. Mourners packed narrow Old Compton St. in Soho, the heart of London's gay nightlife district, on Monday evening. Bearing rainbow flags and signs reading "stand with Orlando," Londoners observed two minutes' silence, before 49 balloons - one for each person killed - were released into the air. Senior politicians including London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined the vigil near the Admiral Duncan pub, where three people died and dozens were wounded in a 1999 bomb attack by a far-right extremist.

A note is placed at an impromptu candle-lit memorial set up in Sydney, Monday, June 13, 2016, following the Florida mass shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub where police say a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle opened fire, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the Orlando mass shooting was "an attack on all of us — on all our freedoms, the freedom to gather together, to celebrate, to share time with friends."​

British lawmakers also held a minute's silence Monday after what Home Secretary Theresa May called "not just an act of terror but an act of homophobic hatred." Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron have sent messages of condolence from Britain for the attack. J.K. Rowling says one victim of the Orlando killings worked on the Harry Potter Ride at the Universal Studios theme park. The author tweeted a picture of 22-year-old Luis Vielma in a Hogwarts school tie, and said: "I can't stop crying."

GERMANY

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's important to continue with "our open, tolerant life" following attacks such as the mass shooting at an Orlando gay club. Speaking during a visit to China on Monday, Merkel said that "we have a heavy heart" over the fact that "the hatred and malignancy of a single person" cost so many lives. She added: "We are firmly determined, even when such murderous attacks put us into deep sorrow, to continue with our open, tolerant life." In downtown Berlin, dozens of people have come together in front of the U.S. Embassy to mourn the victims of the Orlando shooting. People were setting white lilies and pink roses next to teddy bears in front of a rainbow flag and an American flag.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF