The shooting attack on Orlando’s nightclub has created a new terror buzz in the country, while the President Obama, describes the same as “an act of terror” as well as “an act of hate”. In fact, the president went further to state that the massacre that claimed fifty lives in the gay nightclub “was an attack on all Americans”; his statement from the White House went like this:
"Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people”.
"Although it is still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate”.
"We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united as Americans to protect our people and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us."
In honour of the victims the president kept the national flag “at half staff” in the White House. The investigations have identified the shooter to be Omar S. Mateen, a resident of Florida, who died in a subsequent fire shot of a SWAT team.
Here are a few glimpses of Mateen’s past given by the NBC News:
"Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people”.
"Although it is still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate”.
"We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united as Americans to protect our people and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us."
In honour of the victims the president kept the national flag “at half staff” in the White House. The investigations have identified the shooter to be Omar S. Mateen, a resident of Florida, who died in a subsequent fire shot of a SWAT team.
Here are a few glimpses of Mateen’s past given by the NBC News:
- “An ex-co-worker told NBC News that Mateen was racist, belligerent and "toxic."
- “His father told NBC News his son was enraged after recently seeing a same-sex couple kissing in front of his family, an event that could have set him off.
- “In 2013, Mateen was interviewed twice by federal agents after co-workers reported that he made "inflammatory" comments to them about radical Islamic propaganda. The following year, the FBI looked at him again because of ties with an American who traveled to the Middle East to become a suicide bomber.
- “Law enforcement sources told NBC News he swore allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a 911 call moments before the rampage at Pulse.
- “There's no indication that Mateen was in touch with terrorists overseas or that the attack was directed by someone else, a law enforcement officials told NBC News. Nor is there evidence that anyone helped or encouraged him, several officials said”.
An additional fifty three people were wounded in the “rampage”, which left the “2007 massacre at Virginia Tech university”. Obama approved the FBI investigation which labelled the incident as “an act of terrorism”.
Moreover, he also assured that he would definitely find out whether the shooter was “inspired or associated with an extremist group”. He also took the opportunity to remind people that:
"...how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or in a house of worship or a movie theater or in a nightclub”.
"We have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be”.
References:
http://www.reuters.com/
http://www.nbcnews.com/
