“And as Americans we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people.” “We know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” he said. President Obama called the attack “especially heartbreaking” and ordered White House flags flown at half-staff in memory of the victims.“This guy wanted to kill all of us,” Jeannette McCoy, 37, told The Post. Survivors described desperately hiding from the killer and jumping out of his way as he barreled toward them, gunning down victims.One probe involved contact that Mateen had with a fellow Floridian who became the first American suicide bomber to strike in Syria. The FBI said Mateen had twice been investigated for possible terror ties but that the results were inconclusive.Three US officials said no evidence linking the massacre to any terror group had yet been uncovered. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released by its Amaq news agency, saying the onslaught “was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,” Reuters reported. The madman held cops at bay for about three hours, until authorities used an armored vehicle to burst through the wall of another room that held about 15 to 25 people, Dyer said.Ī furious gunfight with 11 SWAT team members followed, during which Mateen was killed and a cop was saved from death when a shot struck his Kevlar helmet. Mateen barricaded himself in a room with about five to eight hostages, said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. Mateen, who worked as a security officer, was armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and a pistol that the feds say he bought “in the past few days” when he started spraying bullets at about 350 patrons inside the Pulse dancehall around 2 a.m., officials said.Īn off-duty cop working as a security guard at the club returned fire, prompting Mateen to retreat further into the hotspot and take hostages, officials said. Omar Mateen, 29, called 911 and pledged his allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston Marathon bombings early on in his bloodbath, according to reports. Suspected gay nightclub mass shooter Omar Mateen.
The slogan for the night: “It doesn’t cost a lot to party hard.”Ĭity Manager Bill Cooper has said he is looking into getting state regulators to pull the bar’s license because it has become a nuisance and dangerous to the community.A homophobic ISIS sympathizer killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others during a rampage at a gay nightclub in Florida early Sunday - marking the country’s deadliest mass shooting. The bar also offers drink special that night - $5 for Long Islands and $5 for a shot of 1800 tequila. And considering it’s ladies night, one would imagine there are plenty of eager guys offering to buy drinks for underage women. Photos of Thursday nights inside the bar, as seen on the Shadow website, show huge crowds on the dance floor where someone who is younger than 21 years old could easily consume alcohol without being noticed by the bar staff or security. You can legally enter a bar if you are 18 years old but you may not consume alcohol. The bar allows those who are 18 years old and older to enter even though the legal drinking age is 21.
According to the bar’s website, the theme for Thursdays is “PYT,” which is widely known to be an acronym for “Pretty Young Thing.” Thursdays are also “Ladies Night” where women can get into the bar for free until 11 p.m. Trouble at or near the bar usually occurs Thursday nights. The motive for the shooting has not been made public, pending a preliminary examination to be held next Thursday in Hamtramck 31st District Court. Two Detroit men, Rapheal Newman and Mark Woods, both 19 years old, are being charged with Hamtramck’s first murder of the year. On April 16, a 21-year-old man was shot to death after he had left the bar. There has been a rash of robberies in recent months near the bar as well as reported shootings.
None of the four victims agreed to cooperate with investigators, saying they had “no comment,” according to Detective Derek Suwalkowski. One robbery victim was shot in the leg, but why he was shot is not clear. The two suspects demanded money from the four men as well as their Cartier glasses. Last Thursday at about 11:30 p.m., four men leaving the Shadow Bar were approached by two men with guns. Hamtramck’s most notorious bar is once again in the news. Once again, a shooting occurs at Shadow Bar