hospitals. but you can work through the local blood banks be able to donate that would be a tremendous help. thank you. >> good morning, my name is -- i'm the president, senior imam of the central florida, america islam. i'm here today to stand as faith leader with our law enforcement community and our city leadership in this hour of horror that was brought upon our city. i've worked with these leaders for over 20 years, i know their caliber, their strength and their determination to make sure this city is safe and i call on

everybody in the community, anybody who has any information to please call the fbi, share what you know, it may help answer many unanswered questions yet. i also call on my fellow faith leaders jewish, christian, muslim, hindu, whatever faith you follow, please pray for the victims and their families in this hour, this sunday morning, it's supposed to be a beautiful morning but it is already very heartbreaking morning. and i want to praise the courageous effort of our police department who put their lives on the line, one of the officers as we heard was injured, and that is the risk they take every day to protect us. no one could have predicted

this, no one could have prepared for it, this could have happened anywhere, it's like a lightning. they have done a marvelous job to save as many lives after the shooter began shooting and we are glad that this situation is completely under control, there are no other shooters that this person is not known to be connected with and so the city residents and visitors should feel safe. the city is as safe as the best city in the world. i want to also caution many in the media from rushing to judgment and from, you know,

sensationalizing the story because we do not want this story to be shifted from the focus that it is. it is a horrible tragedy, we are mourning, we are sad, we are heartbroken and it's not really time for any sensational news, and rushing to judgment. we should all wait until information, facts come out from the investigators and we will all see what happens, understand it and stay together, work together to keep our community strong. i want to thank the mayor dyer, our city leaders, the chief and sheriff demminds for their

leadership. i think many times in the past this has been discussed as the worst nightmare and we are sorry to know that it happened to us. we don't wish this on anybody else and we hope this would be the last of the mass shooting ss that or country has been going through. i think as a nation we need to look at this issue of mass shootings, because we just have had one too many today. i think we should do something about it to stop the mass shootings that are happening. thank you. >> very early on the shooter appears to -- radical islamic terrorist connection, how is it

that you guys dash. >> early on when we had possible identification made we run everything to the ground whether it winds up being the actual individual or not as i mentioned earlier this at this time i can't say exactly who it is suspect or deceased shooter is. once we're able to do that, once notification is made more details will be able to be shared. mostly likely from our counter terrorism -- >> how many round do you think the -- >> right now the weapons recovered from the suspect who is dead was a handgun and ar15-type assault rifle. and unknown number of rounds but there were additional rounds. >> any sort of call prior to the shooting to 911 or another location dictating anything? >> we that have no indication of that as of yet. >> any communication with the

suspect the three hours before you went in? shots were fired you finally -- >> there was some communication but we're not going to release that right now? >> why did you wait three hours? >> remember, this is a situation involving hostages, situation involving things that happened very fast and i think it was important for them to know exactly what they had once the initial shots were stopped they were dealing with a hostage situation. in that time we need to set up, reassess what is happening and make sure that all of the piece are in place, we have the -- enough staffing to take care of any situation, we have armored vehicles that come to the scene and those were crucial in the rescue of those hostages. any time we have hostage situation we're definitely going to use extreme measures to make

sure that we have enough personnel on the scene. >> to your knowledge -- >> i can't speak to that. that is part of the investigation. >> early this morning there may be 20 victims inside. that number has risen to 50. is this now one of the -- mass shootings in the country. >> yes, it is. this morning just based on the initial officers saw without jeopardizing any more safety, they thought there were at least 20. but now it's up to 50. definitely one of the worst tragedies. [ inaudible ] yes. there's no indication that have right now. that will all be part of the investigation. >> were shot during -- shots

fired after that? >> there was initial shooting at 2:02 numerous shots fired then there were gunshots exchanged between the s.w.a.t. team and the suspect at 0500 hours. >> with the 50 fatalities were they all killed -- >> that's unknown at this time. >> is this classified as hate crime or terrorist -- >> at this point in time we're just conducting a general investigation period. we'll determine officially whether it's a hate crime or terrorism or even violent crime once we have all the facts in place. we're at the very early stages. as much as i'd like to give you everything we can't we can't give you things that aren't 100% accurate. >> you're saying right now you guys came back with -- >> i'm sorry? >> a bomb? [ inaudible ]

>> again, since the subject has not been positively identified to the next of kin there's not whole lot more we can share with you at this time. also bear in mind that we do not want to jeopardize the investigation. we feel confident there are no other threats to the immediate area or united states of america we need to be certain before we put any other information out. >> anyone injured by officer's fire? >> unknown at this time. there was one officer injured he was hit in the kevlar helmet with a round from the suspect. kevlar helmet did stop that round but the officer does have some injuries to his face from that gunshot. [ inaudible ] it's still early in the investigation. unknown how he got inside the club. appears like he was in there then shots were fired.

preliminary information -- [ inaudible ] absolutely terrible. 50 victims in one location, one shooting, absolutely one of the worst tragedies we've seen. [ inaudible ] one more time? [ inaudible ] exactly. there were more victims inside than originally thought. once it was safe for us to go in we determined there were no devices, that's when we were able to discover how many victims were actually in there. [ inaudible ] that's all going to come out in the investigation. right now we're going to focus on obviously the identification of all the victims and the notification next of kin.

[ inaudible ] at least a few hours. >> the shooter is from afghanistan and -- [ inaudible ] >> no. >> a u.s. citizen? [ inaudible ] absolutely. definitely a tragedy. not only for the city but for our entire nation. we believe this is a tragedy that could happen anywhere in the united states of america and what we need to do is continue to be vigilant and call, if you see something, say something, call anyone, call 911, call the fbi if you see something that's out of place or see someone that's exacting strange behavior. [ inaudible ] no, we can't confirm that.

absolutely just look into the eyes of our officers told the whole story. obviously, some of those officers had 20-plus years on, one of the lieutenants who was one of the first on the scene is 23-year member of the police department and almost 20 years on s.w.a.t. team and you could tell that they were all shaken by this incident, by what they saw inside. they did unbelievable job, courageous efforts in rescuing many, many hostages, at least 30 from inside the club. but after it was all said and done you could tell this kind of tragedy takes a toll on everyone even law enforcement officers. >> we're going to brief roughly every two hours. every three hours. going to brief in about three hours going to give you absolutely as much information as we can disclose or guidelines for opd and the fbi and we'll

give you everything we can possibly give to you. right now we want to focus on identifying the victims and notifying their families. so i would hope you would leave with the information about how families can call in and check on their loved ones or give information about -- might think that their loved one was among those who are missing. >> 406-246-4357 people can call if loved ones want to call to get information or help with information or call fbi for any tips that's 1-800-call-fbi they will just hit option number two when prompted. one more time our hotline for

family members to 407-246-4357. >> target next media briefing at 1:30 today. we do understand that governor spot is in route he may want to do something before that we'll keep you guys updated on that. the next law enforcement briefing will be at 1:30. >> just now joining us we have been listening in to news conference in orlando, florida, after that massive shooting that happened last night, this morning at gay nightclub. with we now knows at least 50 people are dead more than 50 were injured in that shooting. the suspect was killed in the shootout what has been identified as omar mateen our cbs sources tell us he is or was i should say a u.s. citizen. authorities say also look possible connections to islamic terrorism at this hour.

police say suspect was heavily armed 'assault rifle, handgun and device that was strapped to his body which may have had explosives there. there also call all patrons at the club to come forward with any information that you can provide with them to help them with this investigation as we continue to learn these massive numbers of casualties coming there again out of orlando, florida. we've been following this story the passion couple of hours, now authorities selling telling us first got a call after 2:00 this morning as shootout that involved nine officers and that gunman again who we are identified ago as omar mateen, a u.s. citizens. a hostage situation that may have taken place for at least three hours then authorities say they were left with no other choice but to enter that club. enter that spot what we know as pulse orlando nightclub there in orlando, florida. that's when multiple shots were

fired and when all was said and done again, 50 people are reportedly -- reported dead and more than 50 others were injured, taken to number of hospitals in that area. orlando regional medical center there took on a number of those patients who are now being treated, some of the conditions could possibly be grave, we've been getting updates throughout the morning again on this situation. this follows the second nightclub shooting this weekend, "the voice" consays than victoria grimmee we're monitoring after the number of shoeing, let's check in with jeff my colleague on the phone, where are you? he's actually joining us live from studios, what can you tell us about this? >> we've been stable to through our source identify who the shooter is, that is important to have that name out there in these early stages as invest

gators gather up as much evidence as they can find on this person, omar mateen, 29 years old and as try to trace down who he has been in contact with over the last several hours before that mass shooting and days. that is important as investigators try to determine whether this was an attack that was either inspired or directed by a terrorism organization, however, they haven't ruled other avenues here out as well. our law enforcement officers are telling us that they are also open to the possibility right now that this may have been a hate crime. keep in mind the club that was target was a gay nightclub, so they are looking at that avenue as well. fact that they would come out so early on and say that there are aspects in what they have so far that suggest this was domestic terrorism with some sort of

islamic radicalization effort. the fact that they would -- evidence, rather. so early say something like that, suggest that they may know something that hasn't reached the media yet. for example, was there something that the shooter said as he was carrying out this act. was there something that witnesses to this terrible act noticed. so we're early on in this investigation. but right now law enforcement has some solid evidence to go on as they look for answers here, demarco. >> get in contact with the family as we heard from the family or any other ties, any friends to this gunman? >> we have not heard from the family but there are efforts to locate the family, we are sending crews obviously to the address listed under the name of the suspect, again, a 29-year-old man.

there are some members of congress who say this that he received briefings which suggest that this attack or had some sort of weapons training, again what we know from police there on the scene is that he had an assault weapon and a handgun. i'll try to get more specifics on the exact weapons involved. they have some evidence to work with here as they try to piece together what motivated this act. >> of course the news there in brussels and all over the country, all over the world, would you consider this a sophisticated attack? >> the fact that anyone can carry out something like this suggests that there is some sort of knowledge of operational knowledge, if you will, but when you look at past events, for example, what happened in paris, the paris attacks in november of last year, san bernadino

attacks. there are elements in this incident that harken back to those incidents and that's what investigators will look at now. is this part of some evolving threat from terrorism organizations. but again, the fact that investigators have come out so early talked about domestic terrorism here suggest they know something that we don't know as they try to track down leads. >> how soon do you think we can find out whether or not this was terrorism related if they had any international impact? >> well, you know what, sometimes it can take hours. other times you sort of wait to see what comes out, for example, egyptair that incident there was some talk early on after that incident last month that maybe there would be some sort of chatter from terrorism organizations suggesting a direct tie to that incident.

we haven't heard that yet in that incident. it's really hard to tell, but when incidents like this happen and there is a direct tie to terrorism organization, oftentimes they claim responsibility can come within 24 hours, within hours, it really just depends. but what is a critical aspect of this investigation not only for media as we try to figure out what happened here, but especially for law enforce: they want to know was there any sort of direct communication if this is islamic-related terrorism. was there some sort of direct contact with terrorism organizations overseas. or was it inspired. so those are really important aspects especially when you consider whether there will be claim of responsibility from

some group. investigators want to know could there be someone else tied to this and how far the contacts go with someone who may be an operative or an ice or alki d. it's still too early our sources are not talking about a direct link at this point. but clearly that is what they're looking for in this case. whether there is a direct link or was this an act that was inspired. >> jeff, you talked how authorities were quick to come out and call this domestic terrorism, how crucial sit for people there at the club last night or this morning to come forward and share what they know with authorities? >> well, investigators want as much information as they can get. when you're starting with incident like this, clearly you're going to have a lot of evidence at the scene now you know who the shooter saw go to his home and you chase down leads there. but from zero from, the start of

the an investigation they try not to contaminate the information that they're getting with any sort of early hypothesis. they want to look at all facts then string them together as they try to determine exactly what this was. so, you're not going to hear them speculating in these news conferences. what they are telling us these are the facts that they have right now that's why i say if they're coming out so early in this and suggesting that there was some sort of tie to -- may have some some sort of tie to radical islamic event, that says something. that's why i and others are focused on what they said out there in their first news conference. and so that's important information for investigators as they try to track down leads.

>> all right, jeff, if you could stay with us for a moment. want to check in with ron, former fbi assistant director. what do you make of this situation here, what can you tell us about the investigation and where it goes from here? >> well, as jeff was saying, the fbi and joint terrorism task force and orlando police all the partners there will be running back this subject's device or devices that he had in that club. they will be executing search warrants on certainly his residence and any other properties affiliated with him. they bill be going and looking, doing a dive into his browsing history, was this facilitated by someone, was it enabled, where did the weapons come from as we saw in san bernadino there were charges about straw purchasers purchasing those weapons are other people complicit in this, were they willing participants?

there is a lot of work to do before there's any sort of conclusion reached by fbi or local police. >> as we continue to learn more about of course this gunman here, omar mateen is this the profile of a lone wolf or someone who could be connected to a bigger network? >> you know, with the connection to the middle east and asia, i think the fbi has to look at all possibilities here. we have seen these instances where you think it's just a lone active shooter in some case it has been where somebody who is mentally ill, seriously unstable, there are often these preevent indicators, does it go in that path or are these nefarious connections that they uncover overseas or domestically and we've seen that, too, where there is some kind of connection. there's twitter activity or some sort of encryption -- incrypted

app that's a question that may pop up here again in this investigation. does the fbi get the information it needs very quickly or are they once again blocked by some form of encryption where there's end to end situation they haven't been able to see the content in the middle that is very concerning to them. we'll see if that develops as well. >> you may be able to weigh in on this, but how in the world in 2016, is it possible to get into a nightclub or any establishment with an assault rifle, a handgun and an a device strapped to your body? >> you would think that would be hard to do, because typically bigger clubs are going to have some sort of security at the door, bouncer, i'm sure -- i would imagine that this subject looked over this facility before, looked at his opportunity it could be that the first shots were on his way in. >> when you're talking about an ar-15 style weapon, that's a

powerful weapon, it's going to make a lot of noise and you're going to clear a path unless somebody has an immediate reaction that is to go on the attack. >> of course, this is a gay nightclub there in orlando, floridas it too early to fell this was indeed a hate crime with your expertise? >> i think it is a little bit premature. in my estimation this crime was course driven by hate, the question is, what type of hate is it anti-hate, is it anti-meshs it pro terror or whether that's isis or al qaeda or taliban. that is the focus of this investigation. figure out what the drivers are figure out what the connections are. to me it's clearly hate. unfortunately i don't think we'll see hate crime charges against this subject, we're not going to see terrorism charges against him, he's deceased. >> how to we have to understand the bigger picture of course with him being deceased, how do you learn more about who they

have been connected him, what's that pros like when it comes to the investigation? >> that is a challenge, that going to involve probably national security letters, search warrants, dives into databases that the government does possess. we're not surprised me if this person has been at least on the fbi's radar in some small way. so they will go back and scrub what is currently in their holdings. reinterview witnesses. they will be diving into this person's circle of friends. that is actual friends that they can touch and feel and virtual friends to try to figure that piece out and again my concern for the investigation is the incorruption piece. what is the unknown that they're not able to access. >> of course we've been looking at shootings like this the past couple of years, there with the shooting in san bernadino, how do we gets our hands around us.

is it possible to stop mass shootings? >> there are a lot of weapons in america, most of them possessed by law-abiding constitution loving citizens who see themselves as a target shooter or hunter or sportsman. and the difficulty is when people should shouldn't possess these weapons get ahold of them for nefarious purposes. the fbi has seen looking at the history of active shooters in america is in 90% there are pre-event indicators, they will be looking for that here. the question is, how far how do those pre-event indicators go? is that something that has been tell graphed for days, weeks or just minutes? is the subject of posting where he says, here is what i'm going to do or on my way to do. that happens, too. but it's -- this is a collective problem not just a law enforcement problem. others who see and sense

something wrong, see something, say something. need to do that and even if it's washed out, it may prevent, it may help prevent it would not be at all surprising, unlikely that that didn't happen that somebody didn't see something that is contextually inappropriate, whether it's interest in weapons, rantings on the internet, buying explosives, talking about explosives, there's something that was contextually inappropriate who saw it, what did they do about it? there's a good chance they did nothing about it. >> all right, ron, you said it, see something say something. authorities are asking all patrons who were there at that club last night or this morning to come forward, what are some of the questions that these patrons should be first asking themselves then what information should they hand over to authorities? >> it's likely that those who fled the club and that is really within the fbi's teaching which

is run, hide, fight. when one of these incidents happens your best opportunity to save yourself is if you can flee, you should be looking for a pathway out. now to collect those people, it could be that some of those folks just saw a flash. they just heard the first volley of rounds able to get out an exit, crawl out in some way and flee. but it's that collective picture, part of what they want to reconstruct here, this is important for the s.w.a.t. team to learn as well and negotiators to learn, one of the things this we missed, what did we collect, what was known inside that club, all those questions have to be asked by law enforcement. the tactical folks, negotiators and on-scene commanders they can look back, what did we know, did we take the right steps here. you have to reconstruct that and then tear it apart say, how can we be better the next time, because somewhere in america

this will happen again. hopefully never on this scale. >> as we continue to look at those numbers just pointing to our newsroom here, 50 people dead, this has to be the worst or one of the worst mass shootings in u.s. history. >> to my knowledge, it is. i know some of my notes go back to virginia tech where i any 32 souls, you look at sandy hook some of the others, san bernadino, of course, i'm unaware of anything on this scale. i was actually in the studio and kind of stunned because from the time i got from my car into the studio it went from 20 to 50. that really takes your breath away. >> again when we go back to the gunman, of course who is now dead, omar mateen a u.s. citizen what do you make of his profile? >> well, i want to know more as all of us do. were there connections back to afghanistan, pakistan, somewhere in the middle east was this somebody who is watching what is

going on with isis in our world right now. i saw report on the internet yesterday just about another horrific atrocity by isis where they're trying to compete with themselves for the most outlandish, heinous form of killing. was he plugging into that. then part of this narrative, how did he fit into our society. there is a sense by some that we are blaming america. we blame ourselves because we failed to find a job, failed to integrate a person into our society. be interesting to see how did this person fit in? was it somebody who had a background like we saw in some places in chattanooga, not long ago, where you had subject who was a shooter who looked like he fit in. like he had a job, he was fitting into american society but then some trigger occurred. and so, i want to see here, how did this person fit in? was he an outlier, was he a

loner or did he appear to fit his friend and neighbor say he was a regular guy. >> is that the new threat? fitting in? >> it well could be. i think because our world is so big and so connected to the internet, we all have access to whatever we want to inspire us, to drive us, to focus our thinking. and you can find information, particularly on the internet that will fit any narrative that is in your mind. if you are conspiracy theorists you can find theories about this event probably today on the internet. it's very concerning. it's a big world. we have lots of weapons in america, there's lots of ways to arm yourself and do great harm to people. here is just another example. this isn't somebody flying a plane into a building, it's somebody with two weapons that you can do great damage. >> as authorities try to

backtrack the gunman's steps, port st. lucie i'm sure they are at the home, what are they looking for inside the house? >> first and foremost the computer and any electronic devices, readings that are thereof books or magazines, what was his focus? what did he touch? was there a collection of other weapons that were in the house, was he collecting other weapons of destruction, explosives like we saw out in san bernadino. were there other attacks being planned, was part of this in his mind the opportunity for escape and harm somewhere else? and again, that kind of harkens to san bernadino where these folks had lots of rounds of ammunitions in pipes. it looked like they had other darker plans or follow-on attacks being planned. is that in existence here, of course, always the connections.

who is in his contact list, how often has he been in contact with them, was it yesterday, also night right before this happened, was it while the events were on going? who are those folks? and those folks if somebody is like that out there they need to be coming in to law enforcement, putting their hand much say you need to talk to me. >> ron, we've seen mass shootings where the suspects, the gunman goes on mass shooting, of course, there is no hostage situation. knicks for couple of hours there was hostage situation there inside the club, what does that say about his intentions? >> it's interesting, keenly interested to have law enforcement peel back the layers of that. because it did sound like there was at least some engagement between him and law enforcement while this was going on. part of the role of crisis negotiator is to slow the event down, to understand, to collect intelligence, understand what is going on inside of that place without poking your head in and

potentially getting it shot off or having him think that the assault is coming. to slow this thing down while you gather your tactical resources while your s.w.a.t. team starts to develop an emergency assault plan. and see from a negotiation standpoint, see if you can talk this person out. understand what his desired end state is, where the goals ares this a barricaded subject with some injured people or is this, i'm going to kill everybody in here and going to kill you as you try to rescue them. and in a time compressed situation like this where presumably you already have many killed and injured, there is an urgency to come in there, but also this part, we've seen it where devices are present, suspected ieds where that is going to slow law enforcement down. what you don't want to do is roll into an explosive device and lose your tactical team. there's a balance. >> do you think police may have

acted too soon and entered the club or probably should have held off for an hour or two or should they -- >> my suspicion is, first, if you have people who are dying or seriously injured and their lives are slipping away, there is a sense of urgency. it's very clear. this is the nightmare scenario that all of us who were on swat teams, i was one of them, you practice this, pray that it never comes. i'm sure this team, orlando is a big urban areaa well practiced capable s.w.a.t. team integrated with negotiators probably talking to behaviorallists the best possible understanding and at some point they obviously made decision we have to go. >> let our viewers know according to flushes.

46 patients were there, majority are in critical condition so we are monitoring their condition as well. ron, we're looking at this video that's coming in to our studios here in new york, what do you make of the situation and how large this crime scene has become? a lot of times we focus on where it happened, are a nightclub, authorities have number of streets, major streets in that area blocked off. if you remember videos from san bernadino you saw literally a hundred law enforcement vehicles, this again is an urban area, you have a lot of agencies that are part of the joint terrorism task force that are associated with the task force. orlando police department, surrounding jurisdictions including the county coming to offer resources. and you have -- certainly the location itself, this could take likely days to process from an evidence perspective,

understanding whose rounds went where. subject rounds and tactical officers' rounds. understand how this battle went down. to maximize your understanding so that you do better the next time so that we have a total grasp of what happened here, how it happened, a timetable and why. and typically that's going to take a lot of people on the front end particularly with this many rounds fired, other crime scenes or scenes that they want to examine like the subject's vehicle, anything associated with him is going to have a double around it likely to say several days before this dies down so the scene is just a block wide. >> how soon do we reach out to other countries, of course, where terrorist attacks have taken place, especially when it comes to sharing intelligence? >> i will tell from you the national perspective and international perspective from the fbi those conversations are already going on. the fbi has legal atta shares,

sharing what we can share. this is going to help when there is another incident, from their terrorist strike flows back into the united states. this is that type of world now where intelligence agencies, the fbi being one, want to share as much as they can so others learn and others are thinking, like paris, the fbi wanted to know immediately do any of these folks have connection to the united states. what is their network look like, what is the reach back heres there a threat heres there a risk here. >> former fbi assistant director in washington, d.c. pure row. if you could stand by. let's talk to my colleague jeff who is also there in washington, d.c. we do know gunman has been identified as eye march mateen, what did you tell us about him? jeff? >> thanks for being with us.

in washington. as we continue this cbs news special report into this shooting, this mass shooting in orlando at that nightclub. it happened overnight, we are several hours now into this shooting, investigators have named a suspect, cbs news confirm he has been identified as 29-year-old omar mateen of port st. lucie, florida, investigators trying to look into his background trying to determine whether he has or had any ties to terrorism organizations, whether this was an act that was inspired by either isis or al qaeda. just to name a couple of the terrorism organizations that now rise to the top of the list that investigators will be looking at. orlando police have now confirmed that 50 lives have been lost, making this now the worst mass shooting in u.s. history. 53 more people have been hospitalized so it is possible

that that is a death toll that could rise. what you are looking at now are images of this mass casualty event. emts, ems working to save as many people as they can. law enforcement sources tell us the man walked into this club was heavily armed you can hear some of the gunfire in the background that have video. law enforce. source telling cbs news the suspect mateen was heavily armed in that club with an assault rifle and a handgun. there was some concern that he may have had an explosive device as well but now we're hearing that that was not the case. but there was sustained gunfire between police responding to the scene and the suspect, that's what we are hearing from law enforcement sources suggesting that this was a man, an attacker, who was heavily armed. early on f piss conference that

orlando police sea were quick to say that it appears that there were some sort of ties to radical islamic ideology. that's what they are saying, also called it a domestic terrorism event. and for them to come out so early and make statements like that suggest that they know something about what happened inside that club, did the attacker say something. did witnesses report seeing something that he was doing? these are all questions that we are trying to get answer to for you, we know that investigators are scrubbing his travel records, trying to figure out his digital footprint, who was he in contact with in the days and hours leading up to this mass shotting overnight. it's still early on, but already law enforcement authorities, there's a heavy federal law enforcement imprint already but trying to track down as many leads as possible.

if we can go back to some of the video from what happened overnight. it was a chaotic scene with many of the injured being treated at the scene, outside of the this nightclub, this was a gay nightclub in downtown orlando as you can see from that headline there, 50 people dead, more than 53 hospitalized, as i said earlier, it is conceivable that that death toll will rise. we know now based on the numbers that we have, that this is the worst mass shouldn't in u.s. history. again, this is a cbs news special report. we are gathering information as we speak as investigators are they want to know who this man was in contact with and whether this was an event that was inspired or directed by a group like isis or a group like al qaeda. it is still early on in this

investigation, they will look for any claims of responsibility, try to look at his cell phone, if he had one there at the scene maybe one at his home investigators have been dispatched to his home, also they're going to be looking at his digital footprint on his computer's wall. there is important evidence that they are racing to gather as we speak as they try to put together a profile of who this attacker was. we know that he has been neutralized we don't know, there's no suggestion at this point that he may have had an accomplice, we have not heard that from investigators, that's obviously something that they would be interested in. and that's why they are racing to gather as much information as possible. it is still early on. and so this investigation is still evolving. >> jeff, thank you.

again jeff pegues in the washington, d.c. bureau. we've been following this massive shooting in orlando, florida, we know now that 50 people are dead. more than 50 others injured and a lot of those victims, their conditions do not look good. just to give you update if you are just now joining, the suspect has did killed, identified as omar mateen a u.s. citizen, authorities are looking into possible connection to islamic terrorist at this hour. he was heavily armed assault rifle, handgun and device strapped to his body. which may have been an explosi explosive. they are asking all patrons who were there last night or possibly this morning to please come forward with any information that you may have about this shooting, about the gunman that could help them in this investigation. jeff, want to bring you back in. we know that authorities are at the home there in port st. lucie where are -- look if.

>> as much information as they can find about this shooter. who he may or may not have been in contact with leading up to this incident. they also want to know was he on any type of watch list. that is information that should be readily available. we haven't heard from our law enforcement sources whether or not that is the case. but that is something in an investigation like this that you immediately look for as you try to figure out a motive for this mass shooting. as we've discussed at length now, investigators came out fairly early and determined that, this appears to be case of domestic terrorism. the next step is, trying to determine if there are any direct links to al qaeda or isis. but based on what we're seeing now, just the way this unfolded, many of the law enforcement sources that we have consulted say that this again has the

hallmarks of some type of act that isis might try to carry out. i say that because if you look at what happened in paris, if you look at what happened in san bernadino where there were signs of inspiration, there investigators have not determined if there was any direct link to isis. but you look at those two, you see similarities here. you have this night cluck, which is a soft target, that was attacked. then it was a gay nightclub, is/some symbolism there. that's what investigators will be looking at over the next several hours, probably days. >> before we hear from the white house and president obama? >> we no that the president has been briefed on this. we just got word that the vice president has cancelled a fundraiser in florida. so the white house has been briefed on this. we've been told that, now events are being cancelled, that sort

of speaks to the gravity of this situation, when you have an event like this, with the death toll rising now, now hat 50 according to the mayor of orlando. this is a situation that federal law enforcement officials will now become and are more heavily involved in in. you will have the fbi, the atf chasing down the lead on the weapons, where did those weapons come from. there is now a larger federal footprint on this investigation, because it appears that this was some act of terrorism, but now trying to chase down who is behind it. >> that is a big concern. jeff, stand by with us there in washington, d.c. check in with a former fbi profiler on the phone with us. mary, thanks for joining us. sorry about this tragic news. what do you make of the gunman?

omar mateen a u.s. citizen and these terrible acts? >> well, i think what is important to point out with these kinds of shootings, clearly this is the worst one, there is a lot of planning that had to go into this. this planning would have also very likely included evaluating a number of targets and not just the single target. the shooter does decide this would afford him the opportunity to get in and get maximum lethality, the gravity is very important. law enforcement will be looking for evidence of practicing with the firearms, doing recon, identifying where the location was, even notations that he would have written down about comparing and contrasting different locations. the planning becomes really important. specifically who else was aware that have planning, did someone see him in the planning faces. that's what we always ask people

to notify us about is to tell us when they see something like that. unfortunately that didn't happen in this case. >> mary, you've been doing this quite some times this the worst of -- the work avalon wolf? >> it certainly could be. but also is very likely inspired by groups that he has read about or maybe tried to contact. my sense is, if there were multiple people that he was working with, we'd see evidence of that and we have not so far. it doesn't mean he's in a nightclub, it's closed, people are very close together in the there, there are probably very few exits, that's one of the features of a soft target, very difficult for the victims to escape. that's the result of what we're seeing here. >> with a soft target many across the country we've seen shooting at movie theaters, churches, also soft targets.

is this the act of hate crime or too early to tell? >> when all -- it's going to be too difficult to tear it all apart and say, it's 50% this, it's 45% this, 5% this. any crime especially something like this, there are always multiple motivations, mull tilt emotion on the part of the offenders. i don't think we'll ever be able to narrow it down to just one thing. >> what do you make ever this gunman here? a lot of times you hear people say, oh, i never thought he would do something like this, he didn't show any signs now it appears that the mass shooters are starting to fit in with the public, with the community. what do you make of this? how do we spot someone who has a possibility of going on mass shooting like this, a rampage? >> sure. that's the one thing we ask families and friends and employers, everyone to be aware of because there's no way that

law enforcement can see all of these pre-incident behaviors. you're looking for someone who over a period of time becomes more isolated. really stops their engagement with other people. in other words, they stop being friends with other people, they're focused on their planning. they do go out and purchase weapons they practice with those weapons, oftentimes they buy certain throats they go through dress rehearsals. when you are around them you hear them talk almost incessantly about whatever ideation, religious or political that they have. and so it's culmination of all these behaviors which causes them to reel low appear different than they were six months or a year ago but the thinking behind these crimes, that takes -- that really takes a long time to develop. you don't just wake up one day and look at other people as being objects that need to be killed. it's the thinking, asking for people to be observant about

which probably goes back, if not months, it's probably gone back years with this individual. >> shootings like this are becoming the new norm unfortunately here in the country? >> yes. the short answers yes. the long answer is, yes. >> wow. thank you. always good to talk to you. >> thank you. >> check back with in jeff pegues in washington, d.c. bureau. give us more on update on background of omar mateen. >> we were talking about perhaps waiting for some sort of sign from terror organization. and there is islamic state, an isis-related twitter account that seems to have a photograph of the man identified by law enforcement as the person behind this mass shooting. we are not showing that you because we still have to do our

own vetting and make sure that this is an official isis account and that the picture matches with the name of the suspect. but there is starting to be some sort of confirmation coming from isis, at least, suggesting that there may be some sort of connection here. we don't know whether it is a direct connection between terror organization and the suspect or whether he was someone who was inspired biff isis' online onslaught of propaganda. we reported over the last couple of years at length about this. has been adept at following through social media, twitter, facebook, they draw these people in then lure them into accounts,

apps that law enforcement can see. that is part of the debate this is being underway in congress, certainly on the part of law enforcement to have some sort of access to these apps that are incrypted in such a way that law enforcement can't get in. and even makers of these apps say they can't get in and it goes to this debate that we heard a lot about toward the end of last year, beginning of this year between fbi and apple. you may recall that the fbi reached out to apple and eventually filed a lawsuit asking for the company's assistance to get into one of its iphones, the iphone that was used by fa luke who carried out the attack in san bernadino. there is this conflict between technology companies and law enforcement how much should they collaborate or can they collaborate when it comes to

trying to get access in investigations to some of these phones of these suspects. so, what we will see here with this investigation will be an effort to try to gather as much of a digital footprint as possible by this suspect. again, he's been identified as omar mateen, 29 years old of port st. lucie, florida, investigators are digging into his background, what we want to know was he on law enforcement's radar as we've reported in the past, fbi has had investigation in all 50 states at one point. they were investigations of varying degrees but what we know they have been law enforcement here in the u.s. has been trying to prevent people from traveling, they call them travelers overseas to the battle grounds of syria and iraq, according to the fbi director the number of potential travelers has gone down significantly over the last several months to what really in

law enforcement circles is a relative trickle, because it was about a thousand or so a month according to the fbi now down to the 200 or so, are some of the figures that i remember the fbi director testifying to. so this is an investigation that is still in its early stages as investigators trying to determine if there is a direct link or inspired link to a terrorism organization. scott pelley is standing by to take over our coverage. mel thank you very much for all of that -- >> pelley: if you're joust joining us cbs news is covering what is now the worst mass shooting in american history. 50 people, we are told at this point have been killed at a nightclub in orlando, florida. more than 50 people have been wounded they are being treated in hospitals. a doctor told us a short time

ago that surgery is being p. in several hospitals and a number of these wounded individuals are in critical condition. this is an aerial picture of the bar there and dance club in orlando, florida. these pictures were shot very early this morning, the shooting broke out a little bit after 2:00 in the morning. police, of course, responded immediately. but it was some couple of hours or so before the s.w.a.t. team made a decision to assault the buildingm they did with flash bang grenades and an assault vehicle. the gunman was holed 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 who were being held