there. is there a staging area around or has everybody moved to the police department and the medical center that is about three blocks away from the club? >> reporter: everybody is scattered right now, and this is where they staged the media, and they are moving the press conference a couple blocks away and we have injured being taken to the hospitals. this is a huge scene with multiple agencies involved. >> thank you for the quick update. if you are just joining ugs at the top of the 7:00 hour eastern time, many people waking up to the horrific news, word of what police are calling a mass-casualty shooting at a orlando nightclub and you are looking at the images on the left of the scene there. and there are reports of a shooter, and then there was a post on facebook asking

everybody to get out of the pulse and keep running, and that is quote of the pulse. and then at the 5:00 hour, there were multiple gunshots heard according to our reporter, sarah dallof at the ground and according to witnesses as well, and shortly police set off what they call a controlled explosion and that blast also heard by people on the ground, and then declared this a mass casualty situation and police report the gunman, singular, as they put it, is dead. we don't know the identity of the gunman at this point or any more information and we do not have the number of casualties, of fatalities of the situation. we are awaiting a news conference expected to start at the top of the hour here. of course once that happens we will bring it to you. some of the chilling accounts we heard overnight, one after the other, and you can see the very hectic scenario from witnesses who claim they had to crawl over bodies to get out of the club, and they heard the series of

gunshots, and at first some witnesses thought that was part of the music, part of the sounds in the club before they realized it was gunfire. there's also compelling video, if we can roll that as well, as some of the injured taken away, literally carried off by witnesses, bystanders and law enforceme enforcement, and one video of one victim being loaded into a pickup truck, and that shows you the intensity of this and transporting people to the nearby hospitals, and one of them, orlando regional medical center which was just three blocks away, and arnold palmer office and winnie hospital had been locked down out of an abundance of caution. chilling accounts. many of the families still not going and trying to get connected and trying to get

ahold of their loved ones and friends, and making calls to them and not being able to reach them. i want to turn back to sarah dallof as we are expecting to hear from law enforcement, along with the fbi and the mayor and the chief of police. sarah. >> reporter: you know, just the amount of people we are expecting to hear from at the press conference speaks to the enormity of the crime, and the enormity of the developing situation here where we have been waiting for more information from authorities since early this morning, and initially when we rolled up on scene we asked can anybody come and talk to us, and they said that's the last thing on our mind right now this is such an active situation, and this was at a point we had at least 40 cars up here and before we heard the controlled explosion, and let me walk you through the timeline. we arrived on scene and 30 police cars on the scene and some eyewitnesses who made it

out of the nightclub gathered along the police tape, waiting for information and trying to find their friends, and there was a helicopter up above and despite all the people and action, it was very silent here. you can tell it was an ongoing operation because of the silence. then later in the morning we saw that helicopter kind of leave the immediate area, and a short time later we heard an explosion, a single loud explosion that orlando police just almost immediately said that was a controlled explosion on our part and a few minutes after that we heard gunshots and then 40 minutes later the announcement that the shooter, singular, not plural, shooter was now dead and then we saw ambulances with lights and sirens going leaving the scene, and we saw some fire trucks leaving the scene, and since then it has been a trickle of police cars leaving as crime scene techs come in.

within the last half hour, the police issued a statement asking anybody who was inside the nightclub to come to the police headquarters and give a statement and they need information that will aid in the investigation as they move forward and we are waiting for an update on authorities as to what went on inside nightclub in the early morning hours. >> you spoke with some of the people, the club goers there, and some of the witnesses. tell me about what they described as what happened? >> reporter: every one had a different story and each one was equally horrifying. one eyewitness said it was a packed night, a saturday night here in orlando, and he initially thought the gunshots were part of the song, and then he heard the flash from the gun barrel and had to get out, and he helped the wounded using some

of his own clothing to create a tourniquet and he helped a man who had been shot in the hip and he helped to haul him out of the nightclub and another man was on his way to the bathroom when he heard the shots and he realized immediately what was going on and said a crowd of people ran into the bathroom to barricade themselves in there, and he heard shots, a break, and shots, a break, and then silence. they sat in the bathroom terrified until police came and opened the door and told them to run. we are hearing small moments of courage, not just running out of the nightclub as fast as they could but stopping to hold the door for the crowd, and helping to tear down a pwbarricade, a fence outside so people could get away as far as possible, and so that's what some did to survive. >> we are looking at the bottom

of the screen, and this press conference is expected to start any moment and once it does we will bring it to our viewers. as you can see there, the vantage point from the chopper on the right-hand side of the screen, the broken glass, the shot out window, and how large is the club? i ask that, because when you hear about a mass-casualty shooting or a mass-casualty situation at the venue, and it calls itself the latin hot spot with three deejays and a midnight show, and any perspective how many people could have been inside at the time? >> reporter: i don't know the capacity, and it's a multiroom nightclub and it's a popular spot. it bills itself as a gay nightclub and people tell me it's diverse and everybody is welcome so there were all types of people celebrating and dancing and it was a huge night

in orlando, free concerts downtown and a lot of activities going on and when those ended the party kept going on just a couple blocks south of downtown orlando where the nightclub is, and it's a popular nightclub and people like it, and it was a packed club on a saturday night and a lot of people in the hecticness and the noise, they didn't realize what was going on. >> you also have to factor in when you hear about orlando, and you think in memory just yesterday of the news coverage of the contestant from "the voice" who was shot and having law enforcement and the police and the community coming to grips with that violence as well, and people waking up to this news and finding out the reports from police who they call this a mass casualty situation, a shooting at the orlando nightclub and the gripping images of the

aftermath. >> reporter: it's a incredibly tragic and sad weekend, and our crew was here to cover the christina grimmie shooting. she was approached by a man with two handguns and a knife and he shot her and her brother immediately tackled the shooter, and in the struggle the shooter credited himself, and police are crediting her brother for preventing more from being shot and killed. and people are saying they couldn't believe it happened and this shocking violence had taken a young life. and then 24 hours later we have a mass-casualty shooting and more lives senselessly taken. >> that's not considering those who are injured and in the hospitals, and police are calling this a mass casualty situation, and can you imagine the many who are injured.

talk about that. i know when it comes to the nearest hospital, that's orlando regional medical center, and any word -- i believe it's a trauma i, if i am not wrong. were there any victims taken other facilities or mostly there? >> reporter: it's a couple blocks, maybe two blocks, can you turn and see the hospital and then turn and see the scene. we don't have any numbers of how many people were taken to the hospital, and we do know friends and family of people who were inside that nightclub and can't get ahold of them or have been able to get ahold of them and know they are there, and they are beginning to gather at the hospital. but as if they have been taken to other ones, that part we don't know quiet yet? >> you can't help but notice on one side, this window, it has been blown out by the gunfire or

tactical units, and also from a certain perspective as well, you can see the outdoor patio space, tables knocked down and over as people were so decembdesperatel to get out, and social media, people are posting their tweets and even the club so shortly after reports of the shooting, and it looks like law enforcement are approaching the microphones and the podium now. the mayor, the fbi and the head of police are expected here. let's listen in. >> the chief of police will speak, and ron harper with the fbi will speak, and we will take questions and then continue to provide updates as the day goes on. >> tonight our community experienced a horrific crime.

many lives were lost and many more individuals were impacted by witnessing the crime. many were saved, however, by the heroic efforts by the men and women of the orange county sheriffs office, and we have great cooperation from the fbi and all our law enforcement agencies, fire departments from seminal and orange county and all of the hospital personnel working through the night. we are a strong and resilient community, and tonight we had a crime that will have a lasting affect on our community, and we need to stand strong. we need to be supportive of the victims and their families. i will ask the chief to explain what happened. >> at approximately 0200 hours this morning, we had an officer

working at the pulse nightclub who responded to shots fired and our officer even gauged in a gun battle with the suspect and the suspect at some point went back inside the club where more shots were fired and it turned into a hostage situation, and from there obviously multiple officers from various agencies responded and s.w.a.t. team responded and at approximately 0500 hours this morning, the decision was made to rescue hostages that were in there, and our s.w.a.t. officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, and the suspect is dead and appeared to be carrying an assault-type of rifle and handgun, and had some type of device on him, and that's what we are doing right now, checking the area for devices. there are multiple people dead inside and i don't want to give

anybody a number right now, a number of people dead inside the pulse nightclub and 42 people have been transported to various hospitals around and so do not have an exact count and our condolences go out to the friends and family and we will continue to work with the fbi and law enforcement and the sheriff's office on this joint investigation. at this time i will turn it over to the sheriff. >> thank you, chief. while this certainly is a tragedy for our community, i will reiterate what the mayor said, this community is resilient and this is a time in which we all should come together. the orange county sheriff's office responded along with the orlando police department to the initial incident and there was deputy sheriffs involved with the orlando police personnel on the initial entry just after 2:00 a.m. this morning. in addition to that, members of

my hazardous device team responded and have been engaged in helping to secure the scene as well. we have had as many as about 100 personnel who have been activity engaged in this incident. i will also reiterate this is a collaborative effort between our federal state and local law enforcement authorities. at this time the central florida intelligence exchange center has been activated, and that is our intelligence sharing consortam for this region, and we will work along with the fbi as well as the other law enforcement agencies as this investigation continues. again, what i would say to our community is that if you are aware of any of the activities that may have led up to this

horrific scene to share that information with your local law enforcement authorities. as we move forward, we will make every effort that we can to insure this community remains a safe and secure community. we have that commitment from all of the local law enforcement agencies. we have multiple sheriff offices and police agencies who have committed to work to that endeavor, and if you see some suspicious-type of activity, we have shared with this community in the past that our expectation is you say something about it, and if there is anything that looks unusual at this point, this is an incident, as i see it, that we can certainly classify as a domestic terror incident, and at this point i believe the next speaker is going to be the supervisor agent

in charge of the law enforcement officers, danny banks. >> thank you, sheriff. i will reiterate a couple things already said but importantly i know one of the most important questions for the state and nationally is do we consider this an act of terrorism, and we are investigating this from all perfespective perspectives, if it's an act of terrorism. whether it's domestic or international is something we will get to the bottom of. we are glad to have the partnerships we have spoken about, pickly the partnership of the fbi here. one of the more important things we will obviously get to the bottom of, did we have any indicators before this event happened today? we will have more information, i am sure, forthcoming to all of you about who this individual

is, was he a lone wolf and does he have any associates, and those will be something looked into as part of the intelligence and investigative activities. the state of florida is a huge state, certainly for a lot of different reasons, one of them terrorism and our industry and businesses here, we have no suggestion there is any threat to either of those, either today or in the near future, but that certainly is a concern. right now it's important, the message we want to put out, we have no indication of any types of activities similar to last night's activity in the state of florida or around the nation, but we are putting every collective resource we have together to validate that statement and insure the safety of the remainder of our citizens and not only today but through the next weeks. our see something and say something campaign is valid and

works and we want to encourage people to use that, and as you come up with and are aware of information concerning to you, it's concerning to us. if you are aware of information relative to people either conversations, social media, or actions of people in our community that you believe could threaten the rest of us, please let law enforcement know, use those tools to let law enforcement be aware of the information so we can act on it. i will turn over the rest of the interview to our assistant officer in charge for our office, ron harper. >> thank you, danny. i offer the condolences to all friends and family members that are victims to this senseless tragic act of violence this morning. fbi stands shoulders to shoulder with everybody you see here to address this matter. we are not just looking at this from one perspective. i will tell you that every resource in the fbi will be brought to bear on this

investigation, and i would echo what mr. banks just said, at this time, at this particular time there's no reason to believe we have no credible or single information to suggest there's a remaining threat as it relates to this particular incident. i would caution everybody to be mindful the fbi is known for slow and methodical detailed investigations and we will follow the facts and see where they lead us and we will take them to the ultimate end. there's nothing we won't do to get to the bottom of the case and we will be prepared to prepb the any information we can, and whenever we are able to prepb t present it to you. we hear from the orlando region, especially with the fbi and the partnerships we share here, we see the see something and say something one step further, and if you see something and say something we will do something, and if you have information no

matter how small you think it would be that would relate back to today's events, please share it with us and i urge you to call the 1-800-call fbi lines. we are conducting countless interviews. >> before questions i wanted to add a few more things. there were nine officers involved in the shooting of the suspect, and one of our officers was injured and it happens his helmet saved his life, and it looks like the bullet did hit his helmet, so nine officers involved in the shooting and one injured but not that seriously, so looks like the keflar helmet saved his life. >> we will turn everything about

the gunman to the fbi. >> reporter: you said multiple injuries, and we heard the number 20? >> we are looking in the range of 20, but we don't want to give you an exact number. there are people that we are try to go clear the pulse nightclub of any devices and we did find a device on the suspect himself and possibly his car so we are trying to clear that and unfortunately there are people that have succumbed to gunshot wounds, maybe 20 inside the nightclub. >> reporter: can you go into detail about the timeline once you were able to stop the suspect and get in there, and you had some surviving vehicles with victims. >> yeah, officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect and this developed into a hostage

situation, and so right about a little after 5:00 this morning, we made the decision to go in and rescue, and we were being contacted by people in the bathroom nearby, at least 15 people were in a separate area, and our biggest concern was future loss of life and we wanted to save those people so we did an entry, and exchanged gunfire with the suspect after some explosive devices were used as well as our bearcat was used to get through the wall. from there, we exchanged gunfire with the suspect and he was dead at that scene, but officers did a great job, s.w.a.t. did a great job, at least 30 people who were saved during that rescue. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> i would say at this point we are looking into all angles

right now, and we do have suggestions that suspect may have leanings towards that ideology. >> what about the fact it was a gay nightclub? any indications it was -- >> we don't know that that had any specific impact on the actions taken. >> reporter: you said there are approximately 20 dead and 42 taken to the hospital? >> yeah, 42 taken to three area hospitals and possibly 20 dead inside the club, and i don't want you to give you a exact number. >> the question was if it was tied to any islamic activity, and we are looking at any ties with that in a mass shooting like this. >> there's no indication this was related to the christina

grimmie case. it's all part of the investigation. >> reporter: was it one of your officers that shot the suspect? >> our officer shot the suspect. we are checking the area and there was devices found and it's unknown if they are real or not and so the explosive team is checking the devices right now. >> reporter: can you characterize the shooter as somebody who just came here to randomly shoot at people or was he organized and well prepared for what he was going to do? >> it appears he was organized and well prepared. >> do you have a description? >> i don't have a exact description. >> was he local? >> he was not from the area. >> reporter: was he from the united states? >> can't comment on if he was a united states citizen.

we are trying to positively identify him. we are looking at all leads right now, and i said there's a possibility, and we will look at everything. >> reporter: was there shots fired -- >> there was a report of shots fired near the omc and that was not true, and that was taken pretty quickly. no shots fired at omc. >> no accounts of second shooters that we are aware of. >> reporter: you said there was an officer that was at the club. can you talk about that initial interaction between the officer and the club? >> the officer was wearing extra duty in full uniform at the hospital at about 0200 hours he responded to gunfire and at that point engaged in a gun battle with the suspect and unknown if he hit the suspect at that time

and two other officers were nearby and also engaged the suspect as well, and like i said, we don't know if he was hit during that exchange. that did turn into a hostage situation, and obviously the s.w.a.t. team and multiple agencies responded. >> do you have any indication whether the gunman continued to shoot people inside after he went back in the second time? >> that's part of the investigation. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> we had indications there were 320 people total in the club when it was open tonight, and like i said, we rescued about 30 people, about 42 people were transported to area hospitals. >> reporter: can you take us through one more time how you move in in that type of situation? >> absolutely. we were being contacted by multiple people inside the club who were alive and in a separate part of the club swe made a

decision to do an explosive entry on the outside of the club to get to those people and we used the armour vehicle to help defeat that wall and from there we were able to rescue people, and our s.w.a.t. team at that time encountered the suspect, and somewhere in that area near one of the doorway entrances and shot and killed him. >> reporter: that was the noise we heard? >> the noises you heard when you were out here were two diversionary devices. >> many times we distract the suspect to gain the advantage. >> reporter: do you know what the condition is of the 42 people -- >> all being treated for gunshot wounds and i can't give you the exact conditions. >> reporter: what about the device. you said there was a possible bomb threat and were you concerned about shooting somebody who possibly had a

bomb? >> our officers are highly trained for that situation, and we take that all into account. >> what is the next step for all of the agencies going forward? >> we are all going to work together to investigate this from start to finish and the fbi will be the lead investigative agency for this incident and the florida department of law enforcement will investigate the shooting portion of the case. >> reporter: did you say he had a bomb? >> he had a suspicious device. >> the next update will be at 9:30. >> reporter: here? >> yeah. >> new and significant information from law enforcement there in orlando, and the big headline there saying this mass casualty shooting at a loworlan

nightclub, 20 people dead and 42 taken to the hospital. aerial shots of the pulse nightclub. police did run down the events of the shooting and how it happened and they said there was an officer who was uniformed already there inside the nightclub who responded to the initial shots fired, and they even gauged along with two other officers with the shooter, and somehow the shooter exited the club and ran out of the club and then back inside and that develop developed into a hostage situation, and that lasted an hour or even more, and then hostage negotiators were called in and crisis negotiators and after being contacted by many of the people still stuck inside according to police, about 15 people maybe in the bathroom, police say they decided to go ahead and use explosive devices to breakthrough a wall, as you can see, at one point, you can see the vantage point of a window that