hospital's. a doctor told us a short time ago that surgery is being performed in several hospitals, and the number of the wounded individuals are in critical condition. this is the aerial picture of the bar and dance club in orlando, florida. these pictures were shot very early this morning, the shooting broke out just a little bit after 2:00 in the morning. the police responded immediately, and it was some couple of hours before the s.w.a.t. team made a decision to assault the building, which they did with flash bang grenades and an assault vehicle. the gunman was held up in the building with several hostages, and the s.w.a.t. team was able to shoot and kill the gunman on the spot, apparently saving at least 30

lives. the number of people held hostage at the time. these are aerial photos shot a little bit later in the morning this morning after the police put down the emergency and evacuated all of those wounded. we saw a number of wounded people being carried to the nearby hospital, a major hospital about a block away, picking up people suffering from bullet wounds and carrying them down the street to the emergency room. a number of loved ones gathered outside of the hospital's waiting for information. and here's what one mother had to say. >> at this point, the

nightclub, pulse, has been clear, we are in the process of clearing the suspect's vehicle, and we ask that people be patient, and unfortunately there are many victims. our priority is on the identification of the victims a notification. >> briefing the reporters in public on the 15 people that have been found dead inside the club, more than 50 have been wounded. as we were saying a moment ago, loved ones are gathering around the hospitals, desperate for news about people in the club, and are no longer answering the phones, and let's listen in on what one woman had to say.>> i don't know where my son is, no one can tell me where my son

is. if he has been shot, nobody knows. they told me there are fatalities. i have texted him and called him, and he is not answering his phone. but he was sitting right next to his boyfriend, and his boyfriend definitely was shot with multiple gunshots and taken into the ambulance.>> that is one mother that has not heard from her son, and the pictures and that interview done early this morning, shortly after the incident at the pulse nightclub in orlando became widely known. let's ask our executive producer, putting our coverage together as quickly as we can, and tell me again, we have ron hoss go, -- and can you hear

me? >> i can.>> where putting this together as quickly as we can, the fbi is now the lead investigative agency on the shooting, and why did that happen and what happens next?>> reporter: if there is a potential for terrorism, domestic or international, the fbi is keenly interested. obviously they have that sense right now, whether from a posting your communication they possess, a witness statement, and the subject was hollering certain things as he came in and started the shooting, it could be any of those things. it will trip the wire that says this is an fbi lead for orlando, tampa and all of the major cities in america have a joint terrorism task force. that is a collaborative effort. if cer in triggers are reached,

that it's likely to be an fbi-led event certainly where there's international connection that's far better for the fbi to lead that than local agency. >> pelley: now, what we understand about the suspect so far that he is united states citizen, born in the united states, living in port st. lucy, florida. but hess parents are of afghan descent. i take it that the fbi would be investigating that link if it does lead back to afghanistan? >> i'm sure they would. the fbi has dozens of legal attaches, include ink in kabul where they can lias with others in that country to get information there that may have value. could be that foreign port nor has information or connectivity to the united states that is

involved in this case. in other cases and that's the nature of that liaison to share information with foreign partners not only push to them but to get from them. >> pelley: give me a sense of what must be happening based on your experience at the crime scene right now? we have this bar with at least 50 victims in there, the fbi and other crime scene people would be working on what, looking for what? >> first and foremost, this is already occurred, where you evacuate the wounded, sometimes it takes -- it's a longer process for folks who are quite clearly deceased. where the fbi is going to try to take some pictures or have an overall understanding of what that scene looks like, how it ended up and then as they are collecting witness this is very intensive to, collect the witness who fled the scene. collect the survivors, have indepth interview with everyone

of them try to piece this thing together to understand how it happened, what was the order of battle. what were the negotiations and try to have a thorough understanding of this. but from a learning perspective for the tactical people, on-scene commanders who made decision, it's time to go in here. did they do the right thing at the right time with the best information they have. >> pelley: ron, former deputy director of the fbi we thank you very much. if you stay with us, please, i'm sure we're going to need your insight and expertise as well. we just reading the quote now from the trauma surgeon at orlando regional medical center, he is saying, quote, i think we will see the death toll rise. at least 53 people are hospitalized many in fact if not most of them are in critical condition.

trauma surgeon describes the scene at his hospital of all of the operating rooms and entire emergency room being involved in simultaneous surgeries. they have brought surgeons in from all over and have sent out an urgent call for blood donations there in the orlando area. these some are pictures from before khan this morning shortly after the shooting began when police began to converge around the pulse nightclub. these are some of the people who stumbled out of the club wounded. quite a number of people wounded, at least 53 in the hospital at this point. the mayor of orlando has told us that 50 people remain in the club deceased, 50 people killed, making this the worst mass shooting in american history.

mark strassmann, our cbs news correspondent has arrived at the scene, mark, what are you seeing there now? >> scott, i'm standing on south orange avenue downtown orlando, the club is about three blocks that way you can see the flashing lights of the cruisers. they are parked right in front of the nightclub if you can see the black sign on right hand side with the white circle, this is the club itself. the good news is the hospital is about two blocks that way so it was a very, very short rush to get the wounded to the hospital, to give them every fighting chance of success. this is a community i can tell you just having been here the last 45 minutes was they are in shock. when the numbers kept climbing this morning, from maybe 20 now up to 50, with 5 more bounded, once your town is gripped by a tragedy like this, a tragedy on

an epic scale, this is again a community that is in shock. what do we know so far about the shooting itself. what motivated the shooter identified as 29-year-old omar mateen he is not from orlando from area, his address is newport ritchie northwest of tampa. his father says he has anti-gay leaningsings. the fbi and other law enforcement officials are saying that he is -- he does currently -- may some of some connections or some sympathies with radical islamic beliefs. we're moving up a little bit closer now, scott, i don't know if you can see it, moving closer to the nightclub, there are multiple things going on here at once. first place of course there is the response to the dead and wounded notifying families, trying to get the wounded into surgeries, as i mentioned the rush to get blood donation.

on top that have there's also the investigation. what exactly happened here. how did this all transpire, how methodical was it, was it a planned attack that has connection to any other groups. and pulse nightclub what you can see over there on the right, scott, right by where the flashing lights are that is where the shooting itself happened about 2:02 this morning. a man as the club was closing people finishing their drinks, suddenly people heard gunshots and man was apparently standing there armed with an assault rifle, a handgun and some kind of device. people hit the deck. they heard pow, pow, pow, pow, gunshots. one after another across the club. people were called, diving to the floor seeing wounded, perhaps dying people lying right next to them. at some point the man exited the

club, and got into some sort of a gun exchange with three police officers. one of the police officers was apparently wounded. he went back in the club, that is when this three-hour stand oven sued where he barricaded himself inside the club and there were at least 30 other people inside the club who were hostages. that of course was great concern for law enforcement that as horrific as the blood spilling had been up to that point that it could get even worse. at some point they made the decision, we have to storm this place, they created a diversion with, sounds like a stun grenade. they went in and killed the gunman. so, the threat itself is over, the investigation, the grieving all of that of course is very, very new, very, very raw. scott? >> pelley: mark, thank you

very much. let's go over a little bit of what the police have told us about the timeline of this incident. at 2:00 in the morning apparently a police officer working off duty at the club heard gunshots inside. he responded to those gunshots, got into a gunfight with the gunman and was slightly injured, apparently. the gunman went back into the club and resumed firing. the police chief has told us that the principle weapon that was used was an ar-15 assault rifle. now, that is the type of weapon that is a semi automatic, it fires one round with each pull of the trigger, it's not a fully automatic machine gun, but it is capable of holding very high capacity magazines that hold up to 25, 50, even 100 rounds. and obviously a huge number of rounds were expended in the

shooting of more than 100 people in this club. the police say that they much contacted by hostages who had their cell phones and they were telling the police officers where they were in the club and they needed immediate help. the s.w.a.t. team went in, they crashed an armored car through one of the walls of the club, threw in a number of stun grenades, flash-bang grenades that don't throw any shrapnel but make a mig noise and a bright light to distract the gunman. then they opened fire on the gunman. the police chief has told us that about 30 hostages were saved by this s.w.a.t. team action. now, as mark strassmann was telling us a moment ago, the gunman has been identified from multiple source as a 29-year-old florida man, omar mateen,

mr. mateen's parents are apparently of afghan descent. his father has been speaking to the media and has told reporters that in his opinion, none of this has anything to do with religion, that their son did have anti--gay feelings. this was a gay bar in orlando that was attacked and that is what the father is saying the motivation was. if you're looking at this picture now, this is apparently the family home. we don't know whether the suspect, omar mateen was living with his parents but this is fatly home and the father has been speaking with reporters giving us his opinion of the motive which he believes was anti-gay and not motivated in any way by religion. of course, the snib will be

investigating all of this and making a determination about the man's motive and his actions in this worse mass shooting in american history. we have our national security consultant in our washington bureau. juan, i wonder what you have been learning the last few hours about the investigation? >> scott, i think authorities are concerned, certainly about not only what this individual was doing but whether or not he has any networks of concern, so as the investigation unfolds, authorities especially fbi and counter terrorism officials are looking deeply at what this individual was doing, not just in the united states but with whom he may have been communicating outside of circles in florida. of course, concern not just what his motivations were but if there are others like minded who might perp situate attacks like this. attacks that was very much like the soft target attacks we've

seen like paris and sidly and elsewhere motivated by violent extremism. there's a lot of talk about this, when we've looked at violent islamic extremist groups like isis and al qaeda those who support them there is mixed motivations behind their violent activity not just anti-american or anti-french. not just political in nature but often social and conservative in nation. it is quite possible that you have mixed motivations here for the individual. could be anti-gay, anti-liberal values, anti-globalization while at the same time driving political and violent agenda for group like the islamic state. as authorities look at this particular case they're going to be looking at the motivation, also going to be looking at whether or not there are other threats that emerge, whether or not this becomes demonstration event for other terrorist and other copy cats.

>> pelley: 50 people at least have been killed. another 52 are in hospitals. we are told that most of them are in critical condition at this moment. many, many people undergoing surgery for their wound. a lone gunman by the name of omar mateen, 29 years old from port st. lucie, florida, is the man that police say the s.w.a.t. team killed in the bar earlier this morning. in a predawn raid that saved another 30 hostages. our mark strassmann has been making his way closer to the pulse nightclub, mark, what do you -- do we have mark strassmann just now?

we don't have mark just at the moment but he's been making his way over to the club there. is an enormous amount of forensic work to be done there. several vehicles from the coroner's office have gathered there at the club over the course of the next many hours it will be a big project to remove the 50 or so bodies that are still in the nightclub as we speak. they will be removed after calling of the forensic evidence has been gathered and all of the photographs and everything necessary to complete the investigation is done. we will -- we have florida senator bill nelson is briefing reporters. let's listen in see what he has to add.

>> this is senator bill nelson standing at the microphones there in orlando just outside the pulse nightclub. we're hoping that senator nelson will have some additional information for us. he'll be beginning in just a very short while. here is senator bill nelson of florida now. >> i can give you a minute. >> pelley: as we wait for the senator the police have indicated that they believe that there was only the one lone gunman, omar mateen that there is no continuing threat to anyone in the orlando area. and at this moment they believe that mateen acted 'lone, acted at loan at least inasmuch as the

shooting itself, whether he had any help before the shooting, of course, is an area of intense investigation right now. the fbi has tape over, police officials have said there are indications of leanings toward islamic extremism. that's pretty tenuous. the suspect's father has said that this doesn't have anything to do with religion in any way. these are early hours. and as the time goes by we are going to be learning a great deal more and we'll know more about the motivation of this gunman. probably a little bit later in the day as the fbi does its work and as reporters are able to talk to more people as well. no question that the target was a very popular, well-known gay bar in the orlando area. 50 people killed inside, 53 people in the hospital now, most

of them we are told in critical condition. we are awaiting senator bill nelson, he's standing in front of the microphones there just outside the club and we will go to him as soon as they get organized and he starts speaking. also have the expertise of ron houska former assistant fbi director who is with us in our washington bureau. can you give us some sense of what the fbi is bowlizing from quantity so, from headquarters in washington. how are they approaching this as we speak? >> the tampa division of the fbi and orlando part of that, resident agency, several dozen agents there, they have full reach back, there is no doubt there are open lines to headquarters right now.

probably talking to the counter terrorism division. assessing the needs on the ground, they can get a plane dispatched out of quantico with evidence experts, with behaviorallists, with additional media folks to handle the media onslaught here. put a package together very quickly that is going to forware resource to get the scene prosed, to maximize their understanding in as quick a way as they can. some will be leads phoned in on the tip line and orlando police department's line, diffuse all of those little tidbits together as this week goes forward as today goes forward try to paint a better picture so that you know, the american people know. >> pelley: just to interrupt you for a moment. thank you very much. sit tight.

we'll switch to senator bill nelson of florida. >> -- of americans, not a hyphenated american or off on some cause. and that is what we've got to explore deep inside at this point. that's the information that i have for you, i'll share more with you as i get it. [ inaudible ] i'll get that information for you once i've confirmed it all. but i'm just passing along to you the information that i have from the credible sources as well as directly -- that information is not from the fbi. let me make that distinction. >> who is that information from? >> that is from intelligence committee staff. but the fbi information with senator feinstein and myself is directly from mike, assistant director of the counter

terrorism center in washington. thank you. >> pelley: senator bill nelson, member of the senate intelligence committee briefing reporters there. while he was on the air i was briefed by one of our investigative producers, pat milton, has been speaking with her source in federal law enforcement who cautioned that this may well be a hate crime targeted against gays not necessarily connected in any way to islamic terrorism. it is still being investigated as to the possible motive in the shooting because of some indicators that included the style of attack that was similar to what we have seen recently in brussels and in paris, both of those, of course, were directed or inspired by isis and radical islam. pat tells us that the gunman put up a protracted gunbattle with

the police. apparently one police officer was wounded but only slightly because the bullet that was fired at him was deflected off of his kevlar military style helmet. he apparently suffered some light wound to his face, but nothing more than that. so other than that one police officer we do not have any members of law enforcement wounded in this event. apparently the gunman put on quite a gunbattle with the police. he was armed with ar-15 semi automatic assault rifle which are very commonly available at gun stores. also armed with a handgun some of kind. now, we've also been told by our law enforcement source that the man was wearing some kind of device which is code for explosive device, they're not sure whether it was real or whether it was a fake. but they are now doing the analysis on that to discover

whether there might have been a bomb involved but no explosion of a bomb. we know that much but they are now investigating what it was the man was carrying with him. let me ask the control room we have been gathering interviews of witnesses over the past several hours and i wonder if we have some of those available? we do have interview with one of the trauma surgeons, emphasize, there are still 53 people in the hospital, several hospitals, most we are told are in critical condition. many surgeries ongoing. let's listen in to what the surgeon had to say about the situation a short time ago. >> we were notified of many victims, gunshot victims as central florida's only level one trauma center we immediately activated our mass casualty incident plan. we have spent the morning operating on a number of

victims. we continue to operate on them. wee have found many are critically ill as a result of their injuries. and we are in the process of trying to reunite families as we identify the names of these victims. >> pelley: quite a number of families, we're told, are standing outside hospitals waiting to hear from their loved ones. loved ones that they knew or believed were inside the pulse nightclub and are no longer answering their phones. there's just very little information available about who has survived. and if they survived, what sort of condition they might be in at the hospital. our correspondent mark strassmann has been making his way to the pulse club, i think he's reached it now. mark, what do you see there now? >> we're about half a block to a block away from the club. just in reference there you see it, it says pulse, the black sign with the white oval in the

middle there, slight owe on the side. you can see half dozen -- combination of police cruisers and fire trucks as you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, scott, bodies are still inside and they are trying to identify them then of course removing them. i'll ask him to pan over here you see that cluster of guys over there, men and women, that is the fbi staging area. they are in charge of the scene here, they are going over now, what it is this investigation is all about. this much we do know. 50 people are dead. 53 more wounded. i happened to talk to orlando mayor buddy dyer who came walking by couple of minutes ago, he did not expect those numbers to rise unless somebody were to die at the hospital. i said are there people in critical condition, he said, yes, of course, there are. the other thing that i asked him was, so what are your priorities

now, mr. mayor? he said, identifying the dead, notifying next of kin and beginning to heal this community. there are already plans in the works for a tuesday night church service to remember those who fell inside the club. clear cleon he was really sort of ashen, he's still dealing with this crisis in thinks city just like all. residents here. think about it suddenly you're the mayor of a city that has had worst mass shooting in u.s. history. this club again, a block behind me, where all the carnage happened. in three hour stretch really but the worst of it happened in the first 15 minutes sore so, right around the 2:00 as the club of closing, people looked up, saw a gunman, he was -- he had an assault rifle, a handgun, he had some kind of device also

attached to him and people just kept hearing shots. shot, shot, shot, music kept on playing, one of the witnesses said that the music was the same song was still playing and the shots were still firing at the end of the song that's how long the shots went on for. of course now we have 50 people dead so you can imagine the club, about 320 people in the club as it was closing. suddenly man looked up he's just picking people off probably with his assault rifle mostly with 50 people dead. scott, just an awful lot now for investigators to go over, for city officials to try to deal with and for everybody wrap their heads around, what motivated this guy how do we begin to move forward from a senseless tragedy when 50 people have been killed. >> pelley: reporting just a block from the pulse club. thank you very much. what mark was saying about

motivation of course is still under investigation but reporters have spoken to the father of the alleged gunman, omar mateen, and the father has said that mateen was upset by witnessing gay people in miami holding each other, kissing each other, expressing public affection. and that he believed, the father believed that his son's motivation for this was a hate crime, attacking this well-known gay nightclub on purpose. the father said religion had nothing to do with this. but of course, that's his father speaking, the fbi will be interviewing numbers of witnesses, everyone this manu and they are going to be making their own determination. at these early hours that's what the family is saying about the possible motivation of 29-year-old omar mateen who was born in the united states, from

afghan parents and lived in port st. lucie, florida. we want to go back to mark strassmann there at the scene, where there are number of things changing all the time. mark, what are you seeing? >> people going in and out of -- over my left shoulder and trying to figure out again what -- overwhelmed with what is going on. remember they probably have 50 bodies inside. then they have, this is a crime scene, a crime scene on a massive scale have to go about the business of identifying evidence, reconstructing the events that transpired around 2:02 this morning, getting a sense of how the gunman got in the club, how he -- with fully loaded as he was, armed for be

bear. and also just when he went outside was driven back in side, where he was when police, s.w.a.t. team decided enough is enough. we're going to storm this place. they used a flash bang grenade, they went in and there was another gunbattle, the second in three hours between police and the gunman and this one he was killed. presumably his body is one of the 50, 51 perhaps that are inside this club. this is going to be an all day affair of processing a crime scene, of making sure that the victims' relatives are notified, there are a number of people, of course, frantically wait can for word about whether somebody they know or a son or daughter is a victim inside that nightclub. and there are a number of course of families that are just as

concerned because their loved one is a couple of blocks or standing at the level one trauma center which luckily was only five blocks from the crime scene itself. because their loved one is in surgery, many of those people are in critical condition fighting for life themselves. the worry of course, as shocking as the number of 50 is it could actually rise. if the surgeries don't go well, if the wounds are too grievous, if luck is not with the surgeons. so, scott, this is a very -- five block stretch of south orange avenue in downtown orlando is a very, very busy stretch right now. this is the last thing on a sleepy sunday that you can imagine. >> pelley: mark strassmann there at the scene of the crime. we're just getting word from our cbs news washington producer jeff goldman that the president will be making a statement about this shooting, he will be speaking from the white house at

1:30 this afternoon eastern time. president obama has been fully briefed on the shooting and the investigation and he will be speaking to reporters and the nation from the briefing room at 1:30 eastern time. of course, we'll be covering that, carrying that for you right here on cbs news. now, i'm being joined by my colleague, elaine, our cbs news correspondent and anchor of cbsn. you've been covering this story since the sun came up i'll turn over to you. >> scott, we are continuing to follow this still developing situation out of orlando, again, 50 people dead, 5053 people bird this is -- 50 people dead, 53 injured. at the pulse nightclub in orlando. a gay nightclub there. right now let's go to our jeff pegues, homeland security correspondent is gathering details of the investigation he

joins us now from our washington newsroom. jeff, what have you found out? >> well, we're learning more about the suspect, omar mateet, 289 years old. my law enforcement he was on law enforcement radar in the last five years. that is what i was told. there was no formal investigation opened up on him during that period, but he was someone that investigators were looking at. what we don't know for sure is whether they were looking at him because of some sort of statement that perhaps he had made online. what we have also been told is that he was not under investigation at the time of this mass shooting. that from law enforcement sources that we have consulted with, we're also told that he was a security guard. we don't know where he worked. but we are being told that he was a security guard. we are getting more information, elaine, on this man's

background. [ inaudible ] well, california congressman adam shiff has been told that he as been informed that there was some sort of pledge of allegiance to isis made by mateen, we don't know when that was made or how law enforcement officials have gathered that information. but we know that some members of congress are being briefed on the investigation and that's what california congressman adam shiff has confirmed that there is some sort of pledge of allegiance to isis that was made. and you may recall the san bernadino shooting there was pledge of allegiance to isis made in that incident as well. that is something that happened as that attack was unfolding. that is information that we

found out in the hours, really, after the san bernadino attack in december of last year. so, there are some similarities here already shaping up between the san bernadino investigation, the investigation into the theater shooting in paris, there are some similarities here forming. and we're starting to get a better idea of why investigators early on came out and confirmed that they are investigating this as an act of domestic terrorism. so, the pieces of this puzzle are coming together, if you will, as we get a better idea of who this suspect behind this mass shooting was. elaine? >> what can you tell us about the weapons that were found on the shooter? >> well, he was heavily armed. we know that. because there was a sustained

gunfight between law enforcement and this suspect, that's what we're hear can from our source. we know that he had an assault-type weapon, an ar-15 is what has been reported. also know that he had a handgun and some concern that he was also wearing some sort of explosive device. our source are telling us that there was no explosive device. but he was still heavily armed and was able to engage law enforcement in a sustained gunbattle as law enforcement moved into that nightclub. >> jeff, typically in an investigation like this how long does it take to trace the origin of weapons to find out how it was that a person was age to obtain certain weapons? >> typically, this is where the atf comes into the investigation they will no doubt be involved in this investigation as well. but if you're looking at a

legally purchased weapon, it should not take that long for investigators to track down where the weapon was purchased. but if it was a straw purchase meaning that someone purchased the gun for the shooter, we don't know that yet, but tracing the origins of the purchases of these weapons or how the suspect obtained the weapons, that could take time if the weapons were not obtained legally. that's the question here, is how did he get his hands on those weapons. it could take time, it could take a matter of hours. and a lot that have depends on what kind of contact law enforcement may have had with omar mateen, leading up to this mass shooting. >> all right, this is a photo cbs news obtained of the suspect omar mateen, again, omar mateen, born in 1986. a u.s. citizen born to afghan

parents. jeff, you mentioned the atf could you also break down for us what other law enforcement agencies are involved with this investigation? >> well, the fbi will take the lead on something like this. you already know that orlando police responded to this scene and they have been leading the press conferences out in orlando. they are obviously heavily involved in this. but primarily this will be an effort led by the fbi. however, the lessons ever 9/11 have taught law enforcement in this country to share information. so, it is conceivable that other federal intelligence agencies will be brought in to this investigation as well as they try to track down any contacts he may have had overseas. because that's something that investigators are looking into as well.

was this an attack that was directed by some terror organization or was he inspired, in many cases over the years investigators have seen that these attacks are carried out by people who are inspired by the ideology, we've talked about this in the past, ice has bombarded social media with its propaganda. facebook, twitter, they have responded by trying to bring some of those sites down but they are recreated under a different name. so, it is hard to stay ahead of this propaganda that these terrorism organizations spread out through social media. and the danger is, that people who accepted, who take that message in, can become inspired by that. they are often troubled. sometimes loaners, if you will, but they are people who are vulnerable to that kind of

message then they can go into action that's why investigators have worked to try to collaborate in some ways with the tech industry so that they can get access to some of these cell phones, some of these computers through these incrypted apps which become sort of a safe of information that law enforcement has not been able to get into. there is this tension now between sill convalley and tech companies and law enforcement. how do they work together to help with investigations and so that's the tension that we saw playing out publicly when fbi took apple to court because the fbi was trying to get apple's assistance in breaking into an iphone that was used by one of the attackers in the san bernadino case. we're seeing it in other cases, local law enforcement cases across the country.

there is this tension here but law enforcement at the federal level says it is trying to prevent acts of terror that's why they say they need as much access as they can get legally to cell phones and computers and encrypted apps that some of these isis operatives or isis inspired individuals. >> our cbs homeland security correspondent in washington, jeff, thank you. want to turn now to our john dickerson, host of "face the nation" and john, what is it that you can tell us about president obama. i know he's been informed also planning on holding a news conference, at least making a statement rather. >> dickerson: we've been told a statement out of the white house, that's all we know at the moment that we'll hear something from the president, this is now i believe it's the 18th or so time the president has had to

make remarks after a mass shooting. so we'll be waiting to hear what he says as these details of what actually happened and what law enforcement knew and didn't know beforehand what they're learning now from him. >> john, what else do we know how it was that the president was briefed about this? >> dickerson: elaine, i don't know. we were -- having conversations on "face the nation" so i'm not sure what the level of briefing from the president is and what he knows, we know we've talked to senator ben nelson of florida who said this is islamic terrorist attack. then we've also learned that other members of congress have been briefed, representative schiff local law enforcement saying there was a pledge to isis from the shooter. we don't know the nature of that pledge, whether it was something that was posted or whether it was in the several hours that this attack was taking place, whether there was any

communication, just how that took place and remember as law enforcement reminds us that a pledge if someone else was involved or self radicalization. or inspired from outside of the united states. >> john dickerson, thank you so much. let's turn now to ron, former assistant fbi director in our washington bureau. ron, we've learned a few more details since you and i spoke earlier this morning. what is it that you make of the information, latest information that we have right now? >> well, elaine, i think we've been talking about it so far today that there could be competing motivations here. the fbi and local partners will pick through all of the available information, this was

multi-layered or one primary driver? with respect to the victims. one of the unspoken piece here that i think not enough attention gets paid to after these events is managing the families, the victims, the they need desperately that also applies to the assaulters, tactical folks who went into this location, saw the carnage all of those are going to probably need some counseling, some form of counseling. but the victim assistance piece of this is critically important, trying to make sure that you are getting the best available information to the next of kin, to the survivors, the families whose sons or daughters or husbands or wives or best friend is in surgery right now, trying

to connect people up and some case, many case, deliver bad news. deliver tragic news in a compassionate way. this is detailed work to match up identifiers with victims then track down some family members, next of kin tell them about their tragic loss. it is a huge effort, a critically important effort for law enforce. >> a really good point, ron. let me ask you about the work of investigators as well as they try to comb through any kind of clues, including electronic clues. because one thing we are learning about is that some of the people who were inside the club at the time of the shooting actually reached out via text message and other forms to people who were outside. talk to me, ron, about what is it investigators would be doing to try to paint a picture of what happened? >> some of those communications coming out of the club in particular, need to be woven

together to paint the bigger picture about the timeline of this event. and to give us and to give the families and to give law enforcement the best possible understanding of what was out there, what was available for intelligence, when it became available, were there piece of this that never came to law enforcement's attention, was it that the volume was so great and it could have -- >> ron, pardon the ain't interruption we're going to senator bill nelson who is talking to reporters and come back to you. >> -- shooter, obviously there will be a history that will emerge about the pattern of activity of this individual and

i'm just here to reaffirm to you what i've said a few minutes ago. thank you. >> that was senator bill nelson of florida touching base again with reporters. ron, forgive me for that interruption just wanted to make sure we weren't missing out on any information. is the investigators begin their work what other things will they look at they try to sort out what took place? >> to see how much that never reached them. >> the police at this scene because they're hearing gunshots, seeing this device that was inside the club that would have slowed down the prototype call act of shooter response potentially to a crawl because what you don't want to do send in tactical team have

the team wiped out by a device that detonates. when should we have acted perhaps it was exactly when they did act, and then on investigative side, piecing together the puzzle of all of this -- >> pardon me again we're going to governor rick scott of florida who is just there at the microphones now let's go ahead and listen in. >> stale waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones. , most important thing we can do right now as law enforcement is doing their job and health care workers are doing everything they can for the victim, is pray for everybody. thank god we have the law enforcement we have. the orange county police department, the sheriff's

department, all the federal agencies are everybody has coordinated their activities very well. it's heroic the individuals that went into the building knowing there was an active shooter. we need to be very thank half there are individuals that are willing to risk their lives to save other lives, clearly saved other lives. for anybody to think that they should do this, i can tell you the state of florida, the local law enforcement will be swift in their justice. we have great law enforcement in our state, they're always going to do the right thing. i declared a state of emergency for orange county. we will provide all the resource that anyone needs. i can tell you everybody is going to work together, that's one thing great about our state,

orlando, orange county, i want to thank all the federal agencies for all their support. right now our hearts and prayers go out to everybody that's been impacted by this. i can't imagine a family member that is still waiting to find out what happened to their loved one. it has to be heart wrenching. i know the state attorney general wanted to say something. >> i just want to thank the governor for coming down to join us. this is a terrible, terrible evil act. as a father of seven i called checked on some of my kids this morning to make sure they were okay. we're doing everything we can, law enforce system working well together, our advocates are helping out to see if we can help with families i encourage everyone as i did my staff to donate blood. i want to thank our local law enforcement officers for amazing job they have been doing.

>> already said, the mayor said when they will have another press conference able to provide more information. there's a lot of unanswered questions. at that time there will be able to answer the question. [ inaudible ] >> a later press conference law enforce. will answer those questions. >> clearly an act of terror. you just can't imagine this would happen to our community, our state or anywhere in our country. for somebody to go in there be an active shooter and take thos, any life, but that number of lives, injury that many people clearly an act of terror. [ inaudible ] >> right now we are -- this is

the time to find out exactly what happened. time to pray for families that lost lives, prayed for the victims, going to be plenty of time to deal with how society comes together. orlando area, the orange county, state of florida, we're very resilient. we will come together and do everything we to be help everybody that has been impacted but also bring this community back together again. [ inaudible ] i have not talked to him yet. [ inaudible ] sure. we declared a state of emergency to make sure that all the resources that would be necessary for the city and the county would be necessary, anything that would be needed from the state is available immediately. the law enforcement, the coordinating officer, we worked with the mayors and sheriffs and

police chief to make sure have all the resources they need. [ inaudible ] law enforcement will answer all those questions. they will have another press conference at 1:30. >> do you know how many families of the victims have been contacted at this point? >> i know that -- all that will come out as law enforcement will put that out. they're working hard to reach every family member and also victim advocates, state attorney said to take care of all these families, just can't imagine, i have daughters, i have grandchildren, i can't imagine this happening to my family. [ inaudible ] >> it's devastating. you don't want this to happen anywhere in the world, okay? but -- i can tell you law enforcement, our elected officials, the mayors, at the state level, coordinator activities hoping this would never happen. we work with the federal government hoping this would

never happen. it's devastating when you see how many people lost their life and just impact it's going to have on their families. i've got kids. and grandkids. i can't imagine. [ inaudible ] i will meet with the families at the appropriate time. look what they're going through right now. [ inaudible ] i think -- the way i understand that has been resolved. >> anything you can do on a -- [ inaudible ] >> we're dealing with a tragedy right now. our prayers go out to everybody impacted. law enforcement is doing their job. there will be plenty of time to think about how do we --

continue to improve our society. we're going to continue to work on how we do that. we're a very resilient state. >> we've been listening in there, florida governor rick scott who said heroic, the individuals that went into the building knowing there was an active shooter. clearly it was an act of terror at one point governor getting emotional there thinking of the families and friend of those victims killed and injured saying, i've got kids, grandkids, you can't imagine. let's turn now no senator bill nelson of florida who joining us now on the phone. senator nelson, our thoughts and condolences with your state today. tell us what it is that you know. >> well, we know the shooter is deceased. the fbi has asked me to make a ly to anybody who knows the shooter that in fact they will come forward, we've got the fbi

over in that area right now. from our in tell staff they think there is a connection to isis that has not been confirmed i want to make sure you understand is not the fbi. obviously the fella had to know what he was doing to come some 80 miles to the southeast of orlando, so to come with that kind of arsenal is just -- he obviously knew what he was doi doing. i want to say that as americans, we've got to dig down deep and figure out what we're going to do in the future. we've had two successive oo