https://www.scmp.com/rss/322783/feed Fifty people are dead in the worst mass shooting in US history. Gunman Omar Mateen opened fire and seized hostages at gay nightclub Pulse in Florida. US authorities described the shooting as a “terrorism incident”. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Reuters Reuters LGBTQ+ people from around the world will march through the streets of Washington on Saturday in a joyful celebration meant to show defiance to President Donald Trump’s rollback of queer rights. The parade route will come within one block of the White House grounds in one of the final main events of the weeks-long WorldPride celebration. On Sunday, a more political event, dubbed a rally and march, will convene at the Lincoln Memorial, a revered space in the US civil rights movement as the site of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313497/washington-pride-attendees-march-defiance-trumps-rollback-queer-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3313497/washington-pride-attendees-march-defiance-trumps-rollback-queer-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Jun 2025 10:36:34 +0000 The United States celebrated Independence Day with parades, barbecues and fireworks, but in violence-plagued Chicago, 88 people were shot, 14 of them fatally. The holiday weekend violence comes after increased media and police attention to the problem that has plagued Chicago all year, the nation’s third-largest city which is on pace for more murders than the 774 recorded in 2020 – which was Chicago’s second deadliest year in the last two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3139936/gun-violence-claims-14-lives-over-july-4-weekend?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3139936/gun-violence-claims-14-lives-over-july-4-weekend?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jul 2021 21:27:40 +0000 Two people were killed and at least 20 injured on Sunday when three shooters fired indiscriminately into a crowd outside a concert in Miami, Florida, local police said. Gunfire erupted during the early hours outside a billiards hall in a row of businesses near Miami Gardens, northwest of the coastal city’s downtown. People crowded the venue, which was “hosting a scheduled event and several patrons were standing outside”, Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement. When a Nissan Pathfinder... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3135407/two-killed-and-20-injured-after-shooting-outside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3135407/two-killed-and-20-injured-after-shooting-outside?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 May 2021 14:31:49 +0000 Congressional Democratic leaders warned President Donald Trump on Sunday that any proposal on gun control must include a House-passed bill to expand background checks for gun purchases – or else risk no legislation at all. In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said they spoke Sunday morning with Trump, who planned to announce as soon as this week what measures he supported. Pelosi and Schumer said they made clear that any proposal lacking... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027369/us-gun-control-laws-must-include-background-checks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027369/us-gun-control-laws-must-include-background-checks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Sep 2019 22:01:41 +0000 The widow of Omar Mateen, who murdered 49 people in the Orlando gay club Pulse in 2016, has been cleared of all charges related to the massacre by a jury in Orlando.  Jurors reached their conclusions early Friday morning and the verdicts were announced hours later in court. Noor Salman was acquitted of charges of helping her husband in the 2016 attack; of obstruction and lying to the FBI; and of providing material support to a terrorist organisation. She would have faced life in prison if... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2139709/wife-pulse-shooter-omar-mateen-cleared-all-charges-florida-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2139709/wife-pulse-shooter-omar-mateen-cleared-all-charges-florida-court?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Mar 2018 14:42:54 +0000 The father of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen had been an FBI informant for 11 years before the June 2016 attack, according to new information revealed on Saturday to the lawyers of the shooter’s widow. The government also found evidence on the day of the attack that Seddique Mateen had also been sending money to Afghanistan and Turkey, possibly to fund violent insurrection against the government of Pakistan, the lawyers said the prosecutors told them in an email. Noor Salman’s lawyers said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2139012/dad-pulse-nightclub-shooter-omar-mateen-was-fbi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2139012/dad-pulse-nightclub-shooter-omar-mateen-was-fbi?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Mar 2018 19:21:04 +0000 When Omar Mateen opened fire inside Pulse nightclub – killing 49 people and wounding dozens more in support of Islamic State – he did so with the help of his wife, Noor Salman, prosecutors in Salman’s trial argued on Wednesday. “This trial is about what the defendant knew,” Assistant US Attorney James Mandolfo told Salman’s jury, during opening statements on the trial’s ninth day. He said prosecutors would prove Salman and Mateen spent “thousands of dollars to prepare for the attack,” and she... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2137246/gunmans-widow-gave-green-light-pulse-attack-which?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2137246/gunmans-widow-gave-green-light-pulse-attack-which?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Mar 2018 17:50:54 +0000 Jury selection has begun in the federal trial of Noor Salman, who is accused of helping her husband, Omar Mateen, shoot and kill 49 people in Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016. On Thursday morning, US District Judge Paul G Byron began questioning jurors one-by-one about their knowledge of the Pulse nightclub shooting and whether they knew anyone connected to the incident or the case. It took 30 to 40 minutes to question the first potential juror, who was eventually dismissed.... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2135345/jury-selection-begins-wife-orlando-pulse-gay-club?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2135345/jury-selection-begins-wife-orlando-pulse-gay-club?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Mar 2018 16:13:49 +0000 The mosque that Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen attended was set on fire early Monday in what Muslim leaders say was the latest incident in an escalating campaign of harassment and violence against the house of worship and its members. Given the timing — Sunday’s 15th anniversary of 9/11 and the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha — investigators believe the blaze at the Islamic Centre of Fort Pierce may have been a hate crime, sheriff’s spokesman Major David Thompson said. No one was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2018856/hate-crime-suspected-arson-attack-mosque-attended?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2018856/hate-crime-suspected-arson-attack-mosque-attended?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Sep 2016 01:03:43 +0000 For 25 minutes, an 18-year-old woman, trapped in a bathroom at the Pulse nightclub, talked to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher. She was wounded, afraid and going numb, she said. She first lost feeling in her left arm, where she had been shot, she reported, then, a few minutes later, at 2.34am, she said she could no longer feel her left leg. Two minutes later, she said she was going blind. She “just keeps pleading” for a rescue, a dispatcher reported at 2.37am. “She does not want to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1984189/patrons-trapped-pulse-nightclub-during-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1984189/patrons-trapped-pulse-nightclub-during-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jul 2016 00:03:57 +0000 A suburban Chicago gun shop is conducting a raffle to benefit victims of the Orlando, Florida, shooting massacre — and the prize is an AR-15 rifle. The semi-automatic weapon that Second Amendment Sports in McHenry plans to give away is similar to the gun used in the Orlando attack that killed 49 people and wounded dozens more in a gay night club on June 12. A McHenry County woman who lost her son in another mass shooting where an AR-15 was used — the 2012 movie theatre massacre in Colorado —... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1983545/gun-shop-raffle-semi-automatic-rifle-benefit-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1983545/gun-shop-raffle-semi-automatic-rifle-benefit-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jun 2016 06:39:35 +0000 Orlando gunman Omar Mateen identified himself as an “Islamic soldier” in calls with authorities during his rampage and warned a crisis negotiator that in coming days “you’re going to see more of this type of action going on,” according to transcripts released by the FBI on Monday. The partial transcripts were of a 911 call made by Mateen and three conversations he had with the police crisis negotiators during the worst mass shooting in modern US history, in which 49 people died and dozens were... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978444/orlando-gunman-said-he-was-islamic-soldier-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978444/orlando-gunman-said-he-was-islamic-soldier-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jun 2016 05:39:09 +0000 The US Senate on Monday rejected four measures restricting guns after last week’s mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, although lawmakers were still trying to forge a compromise that could keep firearms away from people on terrorism watch lists. In a familiar setback for gun control advocates, all four of the measures to expand background checks on gun buyers and curb gun sales to those on terrorism watch lists - two put forth by Democrats and two by Republicans - fell short of the 60 votes... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978356/familiar-setback-us-senate-rejects-four-gun-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978356/familiar-setback-us-senate-rejects-four-gun-control?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jun 2016 01:43:02 +0000 Donald Trump is backtracking from his contention that victims of the Orlando massacre should have been allowed to carry arms into the nightclub where they were attacked – a stance even the National Rifle Association (NRA) says is untenable. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee tweeted on Monday that he was “obviously talking about additional guards or employees” of the Florida nightclub when he spoke about the value of having more people armed to challenge the gunman. That flies in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978172/trump-backtracks-statement-saying-orlando-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1978172/trump-backtracks-statement-saying-orlando-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jun 2016 17:32:35 +0000 Nine years ago, the state of Florida received documentation from a security company vouching for the mental health of Omar Mateen, who launched a bloody attack this week on Orlando nightclub patrons. But the psychologist whose name appears on the document in state records said on Friday that she never evaluated a man who now ranks as the worst mass killer in American history. In fact, she was not even living in Florida when the evaluation was supposedly completed. Orlando gunman raged against... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1977077/security-firm-g4s-under-scrutiny-over-mistakes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1977077/security-firm-g4s-under-scrutiny-over-mistakes?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jun 2016 05:16:52 +0000 The Marine Corps is investigating two active-duty Marines for a social media post showing a corporal in uniform holding an assault rifle and the message: “Coming to a gay bar near you!” Major Staci Reidinger said Thursday that fellow Marines alerted officials to the post, and authorities were able to track down the Marine in the photograph and another one who reposted it. According to the Marine Corps Times, the post appeared on a private Facebook group for male Marines with the words “Too... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976771/us-marines-under-investigation-assault-rifle-photo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976771/us-marines-under-investigation-assault-rifle-photo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jun 2016 05:04:27 +0000 The latest political gun battle in the US looks as though it’ll end the usual way, with no meaningful change in the nation’s gun laws, even in the wake of unprecedented bloodshed. Passage of strong legislation that would make it tougher for people on federal terrorist watch lists to buy guns is a long shot. Senate votes are anticipated early next week, and so far, Democrats and Republicans are engaged in their usual partisan squabbling with no compromise in sight. It’s a fresh signal that once... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976768/scariest-thing-about-orlando-massacre-it-probably?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976768/scariest-thing-about-orlando-massacre-it-probably?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jun 2016 04:43:21 +0000 US President Barack Obama on Thursday met survivors of a massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub and relatives of the 49 people killed and said the United States must act to control gun violence and fight what he called homegrown terrorism. “The last two terrorist attacks on our soil - Orlando and San Bernardino - were homegrown,” Obama told reporters, before urging Congress to pass measures to make it harder to legally acquire high-powered weapons like the assault rifle used in the attack on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976690/obama-meets-orlando-massacre-survivors-assails?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976690/obama-meets-orlando-massacre-survivors-assails?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jun 2016 00:45:15 +0000 Orlando gunman Omar Mateen apparently made a series of Facebook posts and searches before and during his attack on a gay nightclub, raging against the “filthy ways of the west” and blaming the US for the deaths of “innocent women and children,” according to a US Senate committee letter released Wednesday. The killer whose rampage left 49 people dead also searched for “Pulse Orlando” and “Shooting” online on the morning of the carnage Sunday and said on Facebook: “America and Russia stop bombing... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976202/orlando-gunman-raged-against-filthy-ways-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976202/orlando-gunman-raged-against-filthy-ways-west?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jun 2016 06:16:46 +0000 Since the Orlando massacre, the small Muslim community of Fort Pierce, Florida - the killer’s hometown - has found itself the target of hate-filled insults and abuse. “Scumbags!” - the phrase is hurled from a pickup truck rolling by the Fort Pierce Islamic Centre, housed in what was once a church. As the faithful arrive at the centre, passing cars honk and their occupants fling out profanity-laced slurs against Islam and the prophet Mohammed - including not-so-veiled death threats. Fort Pierce’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976091/slurs-and-death-threats-muslims-orlando-gunmans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1976091/slurs-and-death-threats-muslims-orlando-gunmans?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jun 2016 02:21:34 +0000 The wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub knew of his plans for the attack and could soon be charged in connection with the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday. The source, who was briefed on the matter, said a federal grand jury had been convened and could charge Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, as early as Wednesday. FoxNews.com, citing an FBI source, said prosecutors were seeking to charge Salman as an accessory... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975390/wife-orlando-shooter-knew-attack-plans-could-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975390/wife-orlando-shooter-knew-attack-plans-could-be?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Jun 2016 02:34:59 +0000 As Patience Carter and two friends cowered inside the handicapped bathroom stall, injured and pinned by a crush of bleeding bodies, the gunman who opened fire in the Pulse nightclub kept talking. “He said, ‘Are there any black people in here?’ I was too afraid to answer,” said Carter, who is black. Carter continued: “There was an African American man in the stall with us … he said, ‘Yes, there are about six or seven of us.’ The gunman responded back to him saying that, ‘you know, I don’t have a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975381/trapped-bathroom-orlando-gunman-she-knew-he-was-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975381/trapped-bathroom-orlando-gunman-she-knew-he-was-not?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 23:46:31 +0000 President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump and the Republican party for “loose talk” and anti-Muslim rhetoric Tuesday, warning that their populist election message was dangerous and un-American. Tearing into “politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows,” an angry Obama said right-wing bombast and “yapping” had whipped up anger but done nothing to prevent terrorism. The killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando - by a self-described Islamic State sympathiser - has poured... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975374/furious-obama-blasts-trump-anti-muslim-language?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975374/furious-obama-blasts-trump-anti-muslim-language?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:24:16 +0000 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... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975361/quiet-orlando-shooter-mateen-who-once-aspired-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975361/quiet-orlando-shooter-mateen-who-once-aspired-be?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 15:45:30 +0000 The FBI investigated Orlando shooter Omar Mateen on multiple fronts and even put him on a government watch list for a time but eventually closed the inquiries because there was not enough evidence to connect him to terrorism, FBI Director James Comey said. That was why no alarms went off earlier this month, when Mateen bought the guns that he used to kill 49 people in Sunday’s shooting spree at a gay dance club in Orlando, Florida, the FBI chief said Monday at a news conference in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975355/fbis-story-how-orlando-shooter-mateen-slipped-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975355/fbis-story-how-orlando-shooter-mateen-slipped-its?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:45:30 +0000 The first time I went to a gay club, a stranger looked over his shoulder at me and said: “Aren’t you hot in that?” It was a Thursday night at the Number One, a small underground box tucked behind a police station in Manchester, with a ludicrous corner VIP area where you would occasionally see actors from the British soap opera Coronation Street. It was run by a chirpy, resilient fellow named Bubbles. It was 1987 and I was 16, at sixth-form college a couple of miles down the road in Rusholme.... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/1975062/after-orlando-massacre-its-important-remember-why-gay-disco-matters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/1975062/after-orlando-massacre-its-important-remember-why-gay-disco-matters?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 09:01:10 +0000 The security company that employed the shooter in the Orlando nightclub massacre has been tarred by a series of blunders and scandals that have raised questions about its competency and ethics. London-based G4S acknowledged on Monday that Omar Mateen, whose rampage left 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded, worked for the firm at a residential community in south Florida. The ties to the man behind the worst mass shooting in modern United States history is the latest dark cloud to loom over... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975060/orlando-gunman-worked-global-security-firm-tainted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975060/orlando-gunman-worked-global-security-firm-tainted?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:30:58 +0000 In the moments when they feared they were about to die, they reached for their phones. “ACTIVE SHOOTER,” a Marine typed to his girlfriend from a recruiting centre in Chattanooga, Tenn. “Love you guys. Was shot,” a health inspector wrote from a conference room in San Bernardino, California. “Mommy, I love you,” a 30-year-old accountant texted from the scene of the largest mass shooting in American history. He was hiding in the bathroom of the nightclub Pulse, in Orlando. “I’m gonna die,” Eddie... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975039/reaching-their-phones-say-goodbye-orlando-victims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975039/reaching-their-phones-say-goodbye-orlando-victims?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 07:23:07 +0000 Donald Trump said on Monday his presidential campaign is revoking credentials provided to The Washington Post. Trump wrote on his Facebook page: “Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post.” He wrote that he’s “no fan of” President Barack Obama, but faulted the Post for a headline posted on Monday that he said read, “Donald Trump suggests President Obama... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975037/trump-revokes-washington-post-credentials-calls-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975037/trump-revokes-washington-post-credentials-calls-it?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 07:19:40 +0000 The hole in the wall is about 1.2 metres high and 1 metre wide. It looks unassuming, but for dozens of men and women who had been cowering behind the wall for hours in mortal terror, it was their escape route to survival. At about 5am on Sunday morning, three hours into the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, Orlando’s police chief, John Mina, made the portentous decision to send in a Swat team and blast a hole through the outside wall of the Pulse night club, where more than 30 people... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975028/hole-wall-led-orlando-hostages-salvation-and-shooter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975028/hole-wall-led-orlando-hostages-salvation-and-shooter?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 06:45:30 +0000 Kevin West said he was in the parking lot at the Pulse nightclub at around 1am Sunday morning when he recognised Omar Mateen walking in. The men had met more than a year ago when Mateen reached out to West on Jack’d, a dating app for men. They then lost touch until three months ago, when Mateen made contact again, mentioned that he would be in Orlando soon and suggested meeting for a drink. West had also seen Mateen at Pulse multiple times before. “I remember details,” said West, a 37-year-old... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975025/his-gay-dating-app-profiles-and-regular-visits-gay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975025/his-gay-dating-app-profiles-and-regular-visits-gay?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 06:27:20 +0000 These are the stories of some of the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people were killed in the Pulse gay nightclub in the early hours of Sunday. * Last Monday, Akyra Murray, who turned 18 in January, graduated third in her class of 42 students at West Catholic Preparatory High School in Philadelphia, where she had also been a 1,000-point scorer on the basketball team. She had recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mercyhurst University in Erie. “She... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975020/sons-and-daughters-brothers-and-sisters-fathers-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1975020/sons-and-daughters-brothers-and-sisters-fathers-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 05:30:00 +0000 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 US history. Witnesses emerged to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974973/orlando-killer-was-patron-gay-nightclub-witnesses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974973/orlando-killer-was-patron-gay-nightclub-witnesses?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2016 00:15:15 +0000 Amanda Alvear’s last Snapchat video post begins with a scene of her on the dance floor of an Orlando nightclub surrounded by friends. It ends with rapid gunshots ringing out over the music. Terror etched on her face, she says one word as she glances around: “Shooting”. Alvear, 25, was identified by police on Monday as one of 49 people killed by a gunman at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the worst mass shooting in modern US history. Alvear’s friend Mercedez Flores, who worked for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974972/watch-orlando-victims-final-video-captures-gunfire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974972/watch-orlando-victims-final-video-captures-gunfire?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 23:23:46 +0000 In both style and substance, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton offered drastically different proposals Monday for stemming the threat of terrorism and gun violence that have Americans on edge following the deadly weekend attacks at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Trump focused heavily on the nation’s broken immigration system in his fiery address, although the Orlando shooter was born in the United States. The presumptive Republican nominee redoubled his call for temporarily banning Muslims from the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974881/clinton-and-trump-clash-terrorism-and-guns-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974881/clinton-and-trump-clash-terrorism-and-guns-after?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 20:36:18 +0000 US law enforcement officials are investigating whether anyone helped the gunman who massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, as Islamic State reiterated a claim of responsibility for the attack. The FBI and other agencies were poring over evidence inside and in the closed-off streets around Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where the gunman pledging ­allegiance to IS carried out the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. The gunman, Omar Mateen, a New York-born Florida resident who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974714/claims-orlando-shooter-one-its-own-us-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974714/claims-orlando-shooter-one-its-own-us-law?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 15:31:34 +0000 Politicisation of the deadliest mass shooting in American history was inevitable. With elections for the president and other public officials less than five months away, candidates were quick to send condolences to the victims and their families. But the tweeted “thoughts and prayers” of politicians have been stated with numbing regularity each time a gunman claims multiple lives, to no avail. Only when sentiments are backed with resolute action to put an end to extremism, intolerance, hatred... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1974713/politicising-massacre-florida-gay-club-clouds-real-issues?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1974713/politicising-massacre-florida-gay-club-clouds-real-issues?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:53:12 +0000 The FBI let the Orlando mass-shooting suspect slip through its grasp despite interviewing him twice since 2013 due to a lack of evidence to hold him, a troubling fact that will pressure officials struggling to detect lone terrorists without eroding basic civil ­liberties. The FBI is investigating Sunday’s killing spree at a gay dance club in Orlando, Florida, as an act of terrorism after 29-year-old shooting suspect Omar Mateen killed 49 people using an assault weapon and a handgun. Mateen, who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974709/why-its-so-hard-us-fight-terror?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974709/why-its-so-hard-us-fight-terror?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:30:30 +0000 ISIS has claimed responsibility for another massacre: an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed at least 50 people early Sunday morning. The shooting was the deadliest in US history. The suspected gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, the terrorist group also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh, in a 911 call. After news outlets reported this, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency released a statement on its online propaganda channels... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/1974621/isis-claim-orlando-attack-came-source-unlike-past-massacres?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/1974621/isis-claim-orlando-attack-came-source-unlike-past-massacres?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 12:45:45 +0000 From China to Russia, from Buckingham Palace and the Vatican, world leaders and public figures have expressed horror at the shooting in Orlando, Florida, and sympathy for the victims. Tel Aviv’s City Hall was lit up in rainbow colours and with the American and Israeli flags in solidarity, while groups of people gathered in cities including Madrid, Rome, Paris and Sao Paolo holding banners and rainbow flags, and lighting candles. On behalf of the government and people of China, I convey to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974545/united-sorrow-world-condemns-orlando-shooting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974545/united-sorrow-world-condemns-orlando-shooting?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:45:15 +0000 Barbara Poma’s big brother taught her the necessities – how to apply her makeup, how to highlight her lush hair, how to be fabulously fashion forward. To her, John was not gay, not just a politically-charged label. He was, in her words, her “loving brother”. As teens in the beachside town of Fort Lauderdale, nestled along Florida’s southeastern coast, John introduced her at the age of 14 to his mysterious, dynamic world, a vibrant, sexy, underground realm that came alive overnight in bars and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974542/founded-memory-her-brother-pulse-was-more-just?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974542/founded-memory-her-brother-pulse-was-more-just?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:26:01 +0000 White House hopeful Donald Trump appeared bent on exploiting Sunday’s massacre in Orlando to boost the argument that he can be trusted to tackle terrorism over rival Hillary Clinton. With many victims of the carnage yet to be identified, and police still probing the suspected Islamist ties of the slain gunman, Trump wasted no time in harnessing the assault to his political advantage. Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse Donald... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974540/gutter-politics-trump-uses-orlando-massacre-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974540/gutter-politics-trump-uses-orlando-massacre-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:00:15 +0000 Facebook has turned on its "Safety Check" feature for the first time in the U.S. in the wake of the Orlando shooting in which 50 people were killed in a nightclub by a gunman. The feature allows people to use the social networking site or app to notify people that they are safe in the wake of a crisis or disaster. Users can check to see if friends are safe. When a person selects the option to say "I'm safe," friends will be notified. "Waking up this morning, I was deeply saddened to hear about... https://www.scmp.com/tech/social-gadgets/article/1974404/facebook-activates-safety-check-first-time-us-after-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/social-gadgets/article/1974404/facebook-activates-safety-check-first-time-us-after-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 07:00:45 +0000 The gay, lesbian and transgender community has seen violence before, from Harvey Milk to Matthew Shepard, and an ever-lengthening list of transgender women. But never anything like this. Sunday’s massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, grimly changed the equation, stirring communal fears and swiftly prompting tighter security at gay pride events. [This] is a tragic illustration of the legitimate safety fears that those in our LGBT community live with every day Mike Rawling, the mayor of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974371/orlando-massacre-spurs-grief-and-fear-americas-lgbt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974371/orlando-massacre-spurs-grief-and-fear-americas-lgbt?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 06:15:30 +0000 Tragic events like the mass shootings in Orlando on Saturday night bring international attention to a quintessentially American problem: why does one of the world’s most developed countries continue to have such a high murder rate? These mass shootings are only the tip of the iceberg that is gun violence in the United States. Every year, guns kill roughly 30,000 Americans, including suicides. The laws in place in the US make it very difficult to stop people from killing each other, or from... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1974325/sadly-orlando-deaths-wont-be-force-change-americas-gun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1974325/sadly-orlando-deaths-wont-be-force-change-americas-gun?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 06:00:30 +0000 New York’s Empire State Building went dark late on Sunday while the spire of One World Trade Center lit up in the colours of the gay pride flag in memory of the victims of the Orlando massacre. The symbolic move came as the United States mourned the 50 victims of the worst mass shooting in modern US history, gunned down at a gay club in the Florida city. Gold standard for killing: AR-15 assault rifle used in Orlando shooting is the mass murderer’s weapon of choice In the wake of the attack by a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974336/new-yorks-iconic-buildings-pay-tribute-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974336/new-yorks-iconic-buildings-pay-tribute-orlando?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 05:45:00 +0000 When Omar Mateen entered an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in US history, he wielded a weapon that has been used in massacres from California to Connecticut: a military-inspired semi-automatic rifle. Though so-called assault rifles account for a small fraction of the United States’ 30,000 annual gun deaths, they have been used in at least 10 mass shootings since 2011, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine. The prevalence of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974293/gold-standard-killing-ar-15-assault-rifle-used?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974293/gold-standard-killing-ar-15-assault-rifle-used?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 04:45:45 +0000 Mina Justice was sound asleep when she received the first text from her son, Eddie Justice, who was in the gay nightclub when a gunman opened fire and slaughtered 50 and wounded more than 50 others. Here is the conversation she had over text message with her 30-year-old son. “Mommy I love you,” the first message said. It was 2.06am. “In club they shooting.” Mina Justice tried calling her 30-year-old son. No answer. Alarmed and half awake, she tapped out a response. “U ok” At 2.07am, he wrote:... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974284/hurry-hes-bathroom-us-read-mothers-tragic-texts-son?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974284/hurry-hes-bathroom-us-read-mothers-tragic-texts-son?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 04:15:30 +0000 Hundreds lined up to give blood Sunday in Orlando to help the victims of the massacre at a gay nightclub, but major restrictions remain for gay men wanting to give blood themselves. The response overwhelmed OneBlood donation centres, where officials asked donors to make appointments and continue donating over the next several days. Over 50 people were injured and 50 were killed when a gunman opened fire early Sunday inside the downtown Orlando club Pulse. While many Facebook and Twitter posts... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974212/gay-men-limited-blood-donors-orlando-shooting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974212/gay-men-limited-blood-donors-orlando-shooting?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 02:27:14 +0000 The deadly attack at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday is raising serious concerns among global security experts and criminologists about a convergence between terrorism and the American phenomenon of mass shootings. Armed with an AR-15 - the weapon of choice for mass shooters - Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during an attack that killed 50 people at a popular gay club called Pulse, authorities said. The rampage echoed several recent high-profile terrorist attacks on US soil... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974209/analysis-orlando-rampage-reflects-frightening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1974209/analysis-orlando-rampage-reflects-frightening?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2016 02:18:56 +0000