that is terrorism. hate crime is a crime where a target is selected because of the actual or perceived group status of another. this is the worst hate attack in modern times. also the worst mass shooting and one of the worst terrorist attacks here in the united states. but the techidesignation of term event brings in the fbi and they will lead the investigation as well as state and regional authorities. >> and let me update our audience as to what we know now picking up on what brian noted. president obama indicated the fbi will lead the investigation into what the president referred to as an agent of terror and act of hate. what we know at this hour, 00 50 people confirmed dead as a result of the orlando massacre inside the pulse night club.

shooting started around 2:00 a.m. eastern time. as plane many as 53 others in l hospitals being treated, some serious injuries. we also know that the shooter identified as omar siddiqui mateen boars in new yorn in new lived in port st. lucie, florida made a 911 call. we don't know exactly the moment this call was that, was it before the shooting, but we know he pledged his allegiance to isis. also mentioning the tsarnaev brothers involved in the boston bombings. at this hour we also have not received any confirmation that he was in direct contact with isis, but an isis media organization claiming that this act was inspired by that terror group and that the man you see there on your screen is an islamic state fighter. and pete williams says the claim

of responsibility did not come after it was indicated that this 911 call was made. the effort to remove the bodies of all of the individuals continues. identifying them also. there are family members on social media contacting authorities as you can imagine you would be trying to confirm whereabouts of their loved ones. s sarah dallof, let's talk about the effort to get the information to the families. >> reporter: 350 families, 50 killed, 53 injured. and the effort to get information has been difficult. it has been frustrating and hea heartbreaking. even prompted the officials to ask the white house if they can do anything to get around the hipaa laws in this case. hipaa of course being the laws to prevent from you releasing

medical information to the families. but any information right now is so, so key. and as we're here at the hospital, we're encountering people coming here trying to find information, trying to find some news about their loved ones. and unfortunately for some of the people we've met, the news has been the absolute worst. we encountered one young man leaving the hospital, he had just discovered take hhat his f had been killed. he had left the night club just a few minutes he s ahead of his friend and got the call that there had been a shooting there at the night club. another young man came here looking for information on his friend. he didn't get any information. he woke up to see a facebook post that his friend had written saying that i've been shot at club pulse, losing blood, love you all. and he was unable to get any information about his friend. another young man, he found out that five of his friends were killed. really speaks to the magnitude of this crime of this mass murder. and how it continues to ripple

across this community here right now. let's go through the time line of the attack again. just around 2:00 this morning, officials say that the suspect entered this club, he engaged in gunfire with an armed orlando police officer working off duty security at the club. the suspect retreated back into the night club taking hostages with him. police made the decision about three hours later to send a s.w.a.t. team into attempt to rescue those hostages. they believe by doing so they saved about 30 people's lives. suspect of course killed in the gun battle that followed. and ever since that time, if t s been a desperate search for answers and information about those who were in the club, friends and family right now can't get a hold of. >> so sarah, what we're hearing again from some of the witnesses as well, just trying to understand what they were facing, according to most of the

reports, actually the briefing is just starting now. we're getting more information. let's listen in. >> order of speakers will be mayor dyer, rick scott, pam bondy, police chief, sheriff demings and ron hopper with the fbi. after this briefing, we will only have briefings as significant events occur today and tomorrow will provide additional updates. >> this is probably the most difficult day in the history of orlando and i want to thank all of our law enforcement professionals, our health professionals, victims advocates, counselors who have come to the aid of our community. while it is difficult for all of us, it is the most difficult for those families that are still waiting for information on their loved ones. and it's difficult as that as, i

ask for patience and compassion and love. pulse remains an active crime scene and law enforcement is working the scene as efficiently and as diligently as they possibly can without also being respectful of the remains of the deceased. we are setting up additional means of communication. we have the hotline which is 407-246-4357 that we mentioned at the last press conference. and anybody that has a loved one that they believe could be one of the victims should contact that hotline and give their information so that we have contact information when we're able to identify your loved one. aspire health has offered counseling service and can be reached through the zebra coalition. and the lgbt center on mills is also open with graief counselor. we are setting up a website city

of orlando.net/victims which will be run dated wibe dawn dau with the names of did he ceased after next of kin have been notified. we have all the resources of the federal government, state government of go. and local government partners all that they have to offer. our community will be grieving today, the next few days, the next few weeks and the next few months. we need to support each other. we need to love each other. and we will not be defined by a hateful shooter. we'll be designed this how we support and love each other. governor scott. >> thank you, mayor dyer. clearly this is an act of terrorism. you just can't imagine this

happening in any community. can't imagine this happening in your state and you doesnyou cane it happening in your country. i want to -- my heart goes out to every family member that has been impacted. i know law enforcement is doing everything they can to notify next of continukicontinuekin, g information out as they can. i want to -- i want to thank all of our law enforcement for everything that they do, this case and each and every day. i'd ask for all the citizens of the united states to have a moment of silence at 6:00 p.m. eastern time tonight to mourn the loss of life and also pray for those that are still fighting for their life. i pray for all the loved ones. again, i want to thank law enforcement especially those that walked into s that shootin scene and risked their life to

save so many people. this state will be defined as a state of generosity, a state of love. we are a resilient state. we love people and we will continue to do that. anybody that is thinking about doing something like this in our state, our justice is swift, penalties are severe and we have a great law enforcement team and we will do the right thing. we declared a state of emergency today for orange county and i know the federal government will provide all the services nanyboy needs. now i'll turn it over to the attorney general. >> today is a thiragic day and are making it clear anyone who attacks our lgbt community, anyone in our state, will be gone after to the if yfullest et of the law. today my office has been bringing in victims' advocates throughout the state here to orlando. so if you're missing a family

member, a loved one, we will be here to help you. you're hearing a horrible tragic violent day the word love and that's what we need to continue to do. we need to look out if for each other, fwhewe need to if a care each other and we will be available. we've received calls from around the country of peopleif a care each other and we will be available. we've received calls from around the country of people who have offered support. the fbi has now taken the lead on the investigation and they are remarkable. back in the command center, watching federal, state and local law enforcements and prosecutors all work together, second to none in our state. and we should be very proud of the law enforcement, the men and women in uniform all working together as a team. thank you very much. now the fbi -- sorry, our police chief. >> good afternoon. just to clarify, we had 11

orlando police officers that exchanged gunfire with the suspect and killed him. they have all been relieved of duty as is our standard practice. florida department of law enforcement will investigate the officer involved shooting portion of that and we will release their names over the next couple of days. we want the citizens and residents and visitors of orlando to know that we are committed to their safety. our officers put themselves in harm's way at risk their lives for the people and patrons at pulse and we are committed to do so -- i also want to take in opportunity to thank all of the outpouring and support not only from local law enforcement, we've had multiple say arriheri respond, different police chiefs. everyone in central florida has

reached out to us, but also i want to thank the businesses in this area. they have all stepped forward to assist law enforcement with food, with water, so we really do appreciate that. thank you. >> i will provide a brief update, as well. this has certainly been a trying day. as you can see as the day has grown, the level of support in our community has grown, as well. and so i sincerely appreciate the broad support that we are receiving. we still have a lot of work do yet in this investigation. at just after noon today, there was a national phone teleconference spearheaded by the department of homeland security in which law enforcement across the entire country came together to talk about what we must do to ensure the safety of our homeland. because what has happened here was not purely an attack on the

residents of florida or the residents of orange county or orlando here, but this was indeed an attack on our nation. and so we appreciate the support that is coming from across the country in this effort. in terms of the orange county sheriff's office, we had three deputy sheriffs who were actively engaged in the rescue efforts that also fired their weapons. they, too, have been relieved of law enforcement authority pending an investigation. what we typically do here in orlando is call upon the florida department of law enforcement to do an independent investigation of any law enforcement officer involved shootings. and that has been done in this case and so they will be doing their investigation con currently with that of the fbi. thank you again.investigation cy with that of the fbi. thank you again. >> thanks you, sheriff. just to reiterate, the fbi has

taken the lead in this investigation but i want to thank every agency standing hepd me and those that you may or may not see currently that are working with us shoulder to shoulder hand-in-hand to get to the bottom of in senseless act of violence. i i've prepared some talking points, so bear with me as i go through them. we're gathering a lot of information so we want to share as much as we possibly can. the individual believed to be responsible for the terror attack at the orlando club pulse early sunday morning has been identified as omar mir saddiqui mar tetin baccarda mateen, amer in new york. he died in gunfire. fbi first became aware of mateen in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to co-workers alleging possible terrorist ties. the fbi thoroughly investigated the matter including interviews

ever witnesses, physical surveillance and railroaded checks. in the course of the record, mateen was interviewed twice. ultimately we were unable to verify the substance of his comments and the investigation was closed. in 2014, mateen again came to the attention of the fbi because of possible ties to an american suicide bomber. the fbi conducted an investigation including an interview with mateen. we determined that contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or threat at that time. it has been reported that mateen made calls to 911 this morning in which he stated an allegiance to the leader ever the of the i state. we're looking into any and all connections. we'll be as trance pashts as possible, but we also want to be as accurate as possible. given the ongoing nature of the investigation, we'll continue to provide updates when the information becomes available. that you think.

thank you. >> is the 191 repo911 report ac? >> there were 911 calls in which there was conversation between the subject and law enforcement representatives. that has become federal evidence. [ inaudible question ] >> it's my understanding, i've not personally listened, but it was general to the islamic state. >> i've period that there is somebody in the hospital under guard by law enforcement. is that true arrend could there a second suspect about. >> i can tell that you we don't have a second suspect that we are actively looking for. we don't know of any credible threats facing the orlando area or nationally. we are providing physical presence for the hospitals and the victim assistance centers to

make sure everyone remains safe and secure. [ inaudible question ] >> all i can tell is you that crime scene is still being processed and i can't comment anything going on with the interior. >> interviewed twice by the fbi in 2013. interviewed again in 2014 for connection to a known terrorist, the suicide bomber. how in the world did this guy get a statewide gun permit? >> as i mentioned earlier, those interviews turned out to be inconclusive, so nothing to keep the investigation going forward. >> you had the echos of terror and he got a gun permit nevertheless. >> again, the investigation was closed, sir. >> have there been more victims passed since our last update? >> to we have someone from the medical -- i'm not personally

aware of other victims that have passed since the last press conference. >> have family members been notified of the bodies that are inside? have you identified them all? >> so we are trying to be as respectful as possible of the deceased people that still remain inside the facility. as we identify people, were making notifications. and then police department and i believe the city are preparing a website to list those that have been made contact with. >> any idea how many have been contacted at this point? >> from the hospital perspective, at least six that i know of next of kin have been notified that their loved ones have -- >> -- inside of this club still for your agents and the fbi and people investigating, is there still -- >> no the scene is clear, but like special agent hopper said, there are a lot of victims inside. trying to be respectful of that,

as well. so it will just take time and we ask people have patience. [ inaudible question ] >> the subject i mentioned was not under kufrpcurrent investig at the time of the incident. >> anything that you tell us about the interviews? >> multiple are being conducted. i have no details take how far that's going. >> you can tell us what you're doing at the home? >> interviews and investigation, yes. >> it two more questions. >> any word on where he got the weapons from? >> our partners from atf are here. >> first i'd start by saying that our condolences goes out to the family. yes, atf has traced the fire arms. we know that this individual did purchase at least two firearms.

he can legally walk into a gun leadership and acquire and purchase firearms. he did so. and he did so within the last week or so. and thus far we're following up on that, so i won't get into the detail as to the specific location of the purchase, but did he purchase two fire arms, a handgun and long gun within the last few days. >> what was the suspect wearing? >> that's all the information we can release at this time. we'll provide you more updates as they become available. [ inaudible question ] >> we're doing it as quickly as possible. >>. [ inaudible question ] . >> we don't think there are any threats right now. as you see there, the conclusion of the latest update from not only law enforcement personnel which includes the fbi, lead on this investigation, but also the governor of florida, rick scott, some details that have come out that we did not know, include of course that the crime scene

investigation at this hour is secure. however, there are still individuals' bodies still inside. they're working -- as you can imagine diligently to identify those killed in this massacre. we're learning more as well about the man authorities say carried out this act. i want to bring in pete williams. s with know as you've reported the fooibi confirming this individual questions two times, one of those came after colleagueswith know as you've r the fbi confirming this individual questions two times, one of those came after colleagues comments that he'd made. in 2014, he claimed allegiance to a man 22-year-old from florida who blew himself up in 2014 in a terror attack on the syrian government forces. >> not so much as understood help to say that he expressed

allegiance for, but you're right this, is a little meat on the bones of what we had been told earlier, that there were two aspects to their earlier interest in him. one was that he was in the orbit of people they were interested in, we now know that that was n abu salah, somewhere from the same place. mateen is from ft. pierce, florida. new york originally, but living in fot. pierce. abu salah was from that area, unknown to law enforcement gone to syria, gotten training, come back to florida aend tried to recruit people and then he went back to syria and responsible for a suicide bombing in 2014. what the fbi says is that in 10 2014, they were aware that he had contact with abu salah, they decided that the contact was minimal.had contact with abu say

decided that the contact was minimal. it did not constitute a threats. the earlier thing, 2013, people who worked with him say he had made inflammatory comments to his co-workers. so the fbi actually interviewed him a total of three time after all these thing and as you heard the fbi special agent in charge down there say they decided that there was nothing basically to any of these things and they closed the investigation on him. so that was a very interesting piece of information. and then the atf just saying that he bought apparently these two weapons that were used in the shooting just within the past week or so, that he purchased them legally. now, he didn't actually say that they were the weapons used in the shooting. he said that he bought a hand gun and long gun. but in fact that's what was used was a hand gun and ar-15 rifle. and of course they also confirmed that he made this 911

call and stated some kind of allegiance to the id lamb he can state to al back dghdadi and he mentioned the 2013 marathon bombings in boston and something about the tsarnaev brothers responsible for that bombing. >> let me bring in sean henry, current chief security officer with crowd strike. we're working to confirm tore of where this shooter worked. he was a security officer. we don't know where. there are reports that it could have been with a global security agency. nevertheless, you heard the question there if this individual was questioned three times, how was he able to have -- granted these were inconclusive, clearly he wasn't t detained. but serious enough on multiple occasions that he was questioned by authorities and y still was able to purchase, legally

purchase, this firearm. clearly we know the law. there are laws in place to protect people who are falsely accused or maybe some colleague misunderstood. but that's a big question out here now if he was a security officer particularly with a global agency and he acquired these weapons. >> i think that is going to be a question. and it will be looked at here post this incident on how that was able to occur. i can tell you in a tyou that t the law and if the fbi or omar abided by the law, there was nothing place to preclude him from doing this. but if that is the law, there nothing that authorities could do. you know, the sharing of intelligence is critically important. he talk all the time about the jttf and ability to share intelligence broadly in an effort to disrupt or prevent these types of attacks.

sometimes those are incredible challenges for law enforcement with the number, the type of intelligence that they are able to get access to. and in this particular case, i think post-this tragedy, there will be some looking at how with the existing laws he was able to obtain that weapon. >> manny gomez, let me bring you in. after 9/11, we learned so much about information sharing. we don't know if some cracks were involved here or not. but there are logical questions that can be asked with the basic information we have now. >> absolutely. and as sean said, this will be looked at more closely. we have an investigation that occurred not once, but twice. one of the allegations was that he might have been involved with a real bad guy, a bomber.

and here he is, he has not only an active security guard license, but an active gun carry license. and i don't know what site he was working at in florida, but it may have been a sense difference site on top of it all. so real questions need to be addressed by agencies that give these gun licenses and these security guard licenses and there has to be a better relationship between the federal and local authorities regarding giving these licenses. >> let me bring in our analyst. let's talk about where things stand right now. act of terror or hate, nevertheless, 50 people lost their lives and 53 others are in the hospital right now. help connect the dots and why if

matters what this is called. >> two points to make. one is we have to make clear that isis has not made official credit for the attack although a media affiliated with isis says that a source said he was an islamic state fighter. and if he was indeed a fighter, then he received camps in isis camps, in iraq, syria or even libya and returned back to the united states to carry out this act. and if he was just an inspired person or radicalized individual who pledged allegiance over-911 which we know of course that the call will be recorded, then he might have planned this ahead by purchasing all these weapons and making it clear that he would have made his intentions of allegiance to isis by 911 call. the other part of this is that he targeted what we call soft targets. and, you know, with high velocity weapons and a space

like this in a matter of a couple municipali couple minutes, you can take out dozens of people. it seems pretty much planned and sbnded to take place this way. we will talk about whether this is related to the radical view about gays in isis ideology. not only was it a soft target, american civilians, but also individuals who sooiisis deems sub humans and demondemonizes. so while the investigation is still unfolding, we're hearing now that more and more that this individual might have been at least inspired by isis. >> when you discuss -- and we were just so with our write frer t from the orlando area who writes for an lgbt paper, knows this club very well, obviously there

is always a concern as it relates to hate crime, whether mother emanuel on this or this act that handed here this morning. but as you pointed out with isis, with some of the radicalized views associated with that organization and others, the view of gays being sub human, being less than an animal in some cases, have you heard a call to the attack gays in the united states? >> there hasn't been an uptick? calls for attack on gays in the we west. however, ideological bandwidth and documents are regularly circulating that specifically talk about that and there has

been what we call religious creeds or fatwas released that says what the punishment of the so-called crime of homosexuality is. and for them, it's actually they say that even if an individual is raised, either he we are for them to be killed than live with the shame of having engaged in a homosexual act. so all of these are regularly circulated among jihadists. and if you want to be be a true isis supporter or supporter of al qaeda, these views are essentially common place views. thank you so much, msnbc terror analyst. news coverage will continue tonight with lester holt from orlando. and our coverage will continue on msnbc. again we have new information received new information from the fbi who is leading the investigation into the massacre carried out at the pulse fight club in orlando

florida. the shooting started at 2:00 a.m. eastern time. by 5:00 a.m., the s.w.a.t. teamed a rushed into that night club where people had barricaded themselves in bathrooms wherever they could hide. attempting to shield themselves from the barrage of bullets from the ar-15, the suspect was carrying along with a hand gun. 53 injured in this attack, some of those kit critkri critically. shooter's background includes at least three incidents where he was questioned by authorities. in 2013, colleagues said he made inflammatory remarks. he was questioned but it was inconclusive. 2014, he had associated himself in some way with an individual also from the florida area, mohammad abu salah, who blew

himself up in 2014 in a suicide attack in syria. again, that investigation was in conclusive as well. this individual as we understand had a security license in the state of florida and also legally purchased just days before this incident a long rain which is authorities speak for the ar-15, he was carrying as well as a happenndgun. joe fryer joining me live outside of pulse in orlando. what is the latest from the theresce scene? >> reporter: we're about half a block away and you can see the big sign that says pulse with the giant p, still a very large law enforcement presence here. the road has been blocked up to the point where we're standing. cars cannot get this close. some people in the public though are walking up just trying to get a look at what is happening here at this very active scene. what we know is that many of the victims are still inside the

pulse night club. this is going to be a long slow investigation. . the process now to try to identify the victim which is will take time, then notify their relatives before releasing their names. we're heard that the city of orlando has set up a website which will list off the names of the vehicictims once identified once next of kin is notified. that should given you an idea of just how massive this situation is that a website has to be set up in order to notify the public and others about some of these victims. we know a number of concerned people have been coming here throughout the day still trying to get a grasp on who some of the victims are. many are at one of the medical screen scenes not too far from here. we've heard from orlando health which is network of hospitals taking care of a majority of those injured. we know they had 44 admitted at one point. recently they update that h dad

has been released. they are telling us that they performed 26 operations helping those who are suffering from life threatening and nonlife threatening injuries. six surge soons called in and t care is ongoing. tamron p. >> i know it took some effort to get that close to the scene as a result of the area being taped off. but i'm just curious from your perspective walking and listening and talking to people how would you describe just what they're telling you and trying to process this? >> i mean, it's still a mix of shock. this is such a massive situation that will take some time for it to sink in for people. i know we've been talking with city leader including commissioner for this region about the fact that so many people just still don't know if people they knew were in the night club. we know about 300 people or so were in there last night.

it was still around 2:00 a.m. around the time of last call. this is a popular night club. a lot of young people obviously were in there at that time of night. so right now it's still a lot of people trying to figure out if they know any of the victims and just trying to get a feel exactly what happened. it's a hard situation because we know so much investigation is still going on in there. it's hard to even imagine what it looks like in there right now. but we know that it will take a great deal of time to try to today care of all of the victims in there and try to clean up what happened in there, as well. >> one lae law enforcement said his words there was blood everywhere. so when you hear the number of people killed and the fatalities and the injuries, the extent of the injuries as a result of that powerful weapon that rang out this morning. thank you very much, joe. let me bring in brian levin, director from the stud difference hate and extremism at cal state university. you know, brian, it is your job

to study hate, what motivates people to carry out this very act that we saw this morning in orlando. >> well, one of the things that we've seen, and this is important, isis is not trying to cultivate religious scholars of goodwill. they have a fellow al baghdadi whose edicts are binding only on those who follow him. and he is a violent hateful man who is an affront to all civilized society whether muslim, christian or other. the thing is, they target unstable, they target criminal, they target disenfranchised and they have a very sophisticated internet network pip testified before congress about this. and said the combination of thi

to violence is a cornerstone of what their american strategy is. they can not easily get folks into the united states like they can in places like europe. is they try to cultivate unstable angry violence people with their own bastardization of one of the great abreu whommic faiths and they're successful at it. if they could launch a coordinated attack, they would. they called this assailant a warrior. that's something that they did not do with the at that time being attackers that hit our community, who they called supporters. but they did it after facts came out about his claiming allegiance to mr. al baghdadi, head of isis. so i think as of now and this is subject to change, you always as

a former nypd officer you let the investigation take you, not the other way around where it goes. but my feeling from the beginning was this was kind of a loan lone wolf jihadist supporter rather than something orchestrated. but let's see what kind connections he might have had. the more this get unraveled, we might see he has section to a suicide bomber who hit syria. see how deep the connection was and reserve complete conclusions. but it looks like the exact strategy which i warned congress about on october 28 and i will tell you one thing, there is a lot of commentary about how washington doesn't work and congress doesn't work. i'm going to tell you something that homeland security committee is the best that america has to offer. both sides of the fence, republican and democrat. and they take this threat very serious seriously, as the most prominent but not the only one facing the united states and especially lone ne wolfe goes across

other ideologies. but the most promising threat continue to be the lone wolves. how the heck did this guy get a license. we need to reform thing so is people who may be on a terror watch list cannot buy semiautomatic weapons. >> and to your point, he worked at a security agency and poe one potentially responsible for a global type security situation. you do wonder whether or not he was actually arrested, indicted, that he was questioned multiple times is is that something that ends up in your personnel record and maybe disqualifies you from being able to have that position and that -- at least work at that agency. but brian, what i'm intrigued also by, you made the point that

isis, whether or not he had direct contact, he clearly from the 911 call wanted to present himself as someone who had some type of contact or was inspired by. that was his aim at putting out that 911 call. we know that. and it works to the ben if tefi isis. but look at this shot of him. we don't know the time line there, but he's presenting himself in potentially if we're going by tcufi alone in. the other in his t-shirt, that's not his rent tags presentation . and you made the point that he was viewed by people who nookne him that he was not a religious matter. that doesn't matter to isis. and this was brought up after 9/11 with some of the attack who are broke down the trade center. there were many things in their

past that were not consistent with the ideology that they claim to be motivated by. >> these people are not religious yus scholars. they're trying to take a bastardization and twist it. as someone who leads the literature from isis or looks at their videos of them torturing lgbt people in the middle east, dozens and dozens by judicial edict, i can tell you i have been hearing consistently this morning from my dear friends in the muslim american community how disgusted they are and how they stand shoulder to shoulder. but the bottom line is isis or daesh doesn't care. they will take anyone and particularly people who are flawed because they are the ones most likely to be able to come under their spell. whether converts, mentally unstable, and whether what they say in their magazines, go

ahead, hit people in your community. use soft targets and you will go paradise. it if you have to violate religious laws, do that, too. you're doing the greatest good. they honored the assailants that so attacked and caused pain in our community. and we will see more of this. this is the most prominent terrorist threat facing the united states today. these lone wolves. we don't know for sure he's a lone wolf, but that's what we're speculating. who are inspired but not orchestrated. but so much material on the internet as to what do and who to hit. they label here are some types of weapons, here are the legitimate targets of aggression. and in reading for instance the last one 14 that came out, the magazine said go attack fellow muslims because they're not real muslims.

this is something we see all the time. they do not just attack outgroups like the lgbt community, and they list prominent american muslims as people who should be held out for disdain and aggression. >> let me bring in thomas ruskin. we've talked about whether it was bataclan or the restaurants in ares, entry waway of the airt in brussels, the so-called soft targets. you're a detective and i'm surrounded by law enforcement and the fbi a, when i hear soft target, that is everywhere we go every gay o day outside of a military base or police headquarters. everywhere is a soft target for the most part. >> we live in a very open society. i mean, we go back to times square and trying to detonate

his car. yes, we live in a very open society and that's why law enforcement has to get it right every single day. they don't have a chance of one day we made a mistake or we missed this. they have to get it right every single day. and as manny has said on your show, this is what the responsibility of law enforcement and current law enforcement will have to be. what we have to learn from this incident is how in the future after the fbi maybe questions someone three times, how that person may be targeted. so if they buy a gun or a long rifle in the last week, the fbi or local law enforcement may have to re-enter view that person to see if they become radicalized or what they need the reps for.view that person to see if they become radicalized or what they need the reps for. and that's only for people who are potentially a threat to the country or a soft target. >> and you talk about and we've discussed this with sean henry and others and as people points

out, we have laws in this country. and you can't just kick someone's door down and drag them out. thankfully because a colleague says something about you, you are not instantly arrested and thrown in some dungeon. there a process here. but at some point it sounds as if as it did after 9/11, we're in the throwing out the laws, but the process. the investigation. is it wrong to sayin the throwing out the laws, but the process. the investigation. is it wrong to say what's going on here three times? >> it's not wrong to say what is going on here. it's right to have law enforcement learn and government officials learn from past incidents. and this is a tear be, terrible day. 103 people were shot. out of those 103, 50 people are now dead. you have a crime scene at the scene. going through by local law

enforcement until fbi took over the case and that then shifts to the bureau to do the crime scene in port st. lucie and wherever else that goes. at this point in time, no to he will tell tales out of school, their and he going through his cellphone, computer records, postings on the internet, they're looking to who he may have had other contacts with. we learned this from the san bernardino shooting. at first they out it was just the couple involved and it laets are turned out that neighbors had seen things and other people were involved with him. that's what will come out of this. unfortunately too late for the 50 victims, but maybe in time to stop something else or another soft target from being hit in this country. >> again, just to update those of you who may have just joined us from the latest information from the fbi, the gunman who carried out what is now the deadliest massacre in our country's history, at least two times in the past had been

questioned by the fbi, 2013 and 2014, those investigations were deemed inconclusive. one of them involved reports from colleagues who were concerned about comments that hehe heed had made. he was born in new york, moved to port st. lucie where he worked at a security guard.d ha. he was born in new york, moved to port st. lucie where he worked at a security guard.ad m. he was born in new york, moved to port st. lucie where he worked at a security guard. he lhad a state secured guard license and legally obtained the hand gun and ar d-15. the "washington post" had an interview with his ex-wife that said that he was an unstable individual. that's how she described him. and fled their home in florida after he repeatedly beat her. her family went in and rescued her and saved her from that relationship. but never the less this man continued his life and ended the lives of 50 people at 2:00 a.m.

eastern time in florida, 53 others injured. some of those critically. my colleague brian williams is taking over our coverage here with more on the ongoing investigations and brian, the many questions that remain at this hour. >> thank you for your coverage as our guest just said, another way of putting this, 103 people wo were shot in all. we learned that 11 police officers discharged their weapons. after this became a hostage situation, when they decided to go in en masse and end it because lives had been at risk since 2:00 a.m., 11 of them discharged their weapons in the effort to kill this one man, all of them in keeping with police protocol will be sidelined from their day jobs as this enormous investigation continues. but that is all after the fact. as one city official said, this may be the worst day in the

history of the city of orlando. put another the way, if it isn't, we can't imagine anything worse. they have lost 50 souls in this one bar, a bar by the way press accounts have it that was opened by the opened by the sister of a man who died of hiv-aids, in his memory. the name pulse was to celebrate his life form and what kept him going for the years he was here on earth. it was supposed to be a safe place. it was supposed to be a fun place. and right up until this happened last night it was. we have learned a lot more about this gunman, now the deadliest single gunman in american history. pete williams, as you have seen on the air, has been on this story all day. pete, 20/20 hindsight always rears its head during a time like this. a lot of people are going to wonder how this guy was on a watch list, this guy was looked

into by the feds, still had the ability to have a licensed firearm, be in the security business, and buy more weapons recently. >> yes, i think those questions will come up. let me address the license to be a security guard. he could have gotten these weapons that he used to carry out this attack whether he had that or not. that is an interesting question. to some extent to me at this point it seems sort of a red herring. even if he lost that license or it had been taken away, there was nothing that could have prohibited him from buying these weapons. he bought a handgun and a long gun, which is the law enforcement term for a rifle, just within the past couple of weeks, in the last week or so is the way they said it. what's the interesting thing

about the license is it enabled him to have a proficiency with firearms because he had to demonstrate a proficiency to maintain that license. to go back to your first point, the facebook says they interviewed him twice. once in 2013 because of what they said was some inflammatory statements he made to coworkers. they talked to him then. they interviewed him. they decided basically, as one person told me earlier today, he was just sort of a hothead. he was just sort of spouting off. they didn't find that he was engaged in any activity in pursuit or in furtherance of what was his interest in radical jihadism back then. in other words, you can say what you want. it doesn't make it illegal. there was nothing they could do, so that investigation was closed. and then just the next year they say that they thought he had some connection with a man named muhammad abu salah who is from

ft. pierc ft. pier ft. pierce, florida. that's where mateen had been living. this was a man, abu salah, from ft. pierce, florida, who left a rather privileged upbringing where he lived in a gated community and heavily into basketball, went to syria, apparently got training with radical elements in syria, and then came back to florida where he tried to enlist other people to join him. it was only then when he went back to syria that the u.s. became aware that he had been in syria, came to the u.s., and went back. it was a very eye-opening experience for the federal government to show how someone could go to syria, come back to the u.s., without tripping any sort of trip wires and notifying law enforcement that he had done this. in any event, the fbi says they determined he had some contact with abu salah when he came back to the u.s., but that it didn't

amount to anything. but they interviewed him again and didn't find anything to it. abu salah went back to syria and in 2014 drove a truck laden with explosives and carried out a suicide attack, so that's who that man is. brushes with these people, statements, nothing the fbi says would have allowed them to arrest him certainly. none of it was a crime, and none of it rose to the level -- this is of course a very difficult call for them. none of it rose to the level where they thought they should put him under 24-hour surveillance. two years later, for whatever reason, he carries out this attack. if he just bought the guns within the past week, that raises the question how long had he been mplanning to do this.

his father told nbc his son was in miami months ago and he saw two men kissing on the street and it enraged him. at that point, did he say someday i'm going to shoot gay people? it's going to be a long time coming as they piece together his social media, his texting, whatever else. finally, he did just before carrying out the shooting, while he was at the club, we're told, call 911 and make some statements in support of al baghdadi, the leader of isis, apparently some statements about the boston marathon bombing in 2013 and the tsarnaev brothers who carried that out and some statements about jihad. but there's no sign we're told that that was directed from afar, that he appears to be self-radicalized. >> pete, more on this isis business, if you'll indulge me a few more minutes.

number one, i find it notable and curious, if you do too, that the terrorist incidents mentioned by this now dead terrorist were on american soil carried out by americans. he didn't say anything on that 911 recording that we know of that praised brussels or paris or anything like that. number two, this statement isis has put out is them declaring after the fact, oh, yeah, he was one of ours. >> it does appear to be that way. there were no claims of credit early on. we were watching for this very carefully right afterwards. ordinarily when these things happen, they're sometimes within a few minutes. if they know about something in advance, they're quick to get the word out. only after it was publicly reported that he had made this call in which he claimed support for al baghdadi, only did this organization, this arm of isis, began to say, as you say, he's one of us. >> and the praising of the

boston marathon bombing, i assume we're going to get a transcript, if not an audio recording, of this 911 call. >> i assume so too. florida has a pretty open policy about governmental records. i know there are efforts now to get that audio. whether the fbi will say to the florida authorities we're rather you didn't release that now because it is part of our investigation, i don't know, but i know there are efforts to try to get it. the people you cover for a living i'm quite sure are frustrated that after anything like this we use the phrase connect the dots. we've used it since the immediate aftermath of 9/11. we're going to hear a lot more of it now. who missed the clues that connected a to b and gave us c. >> connect the dots in the past

has always went money government agency had some information, but it wasn't relayed to another agency. most notably before the 9/11 attacks when there was information within the u.s. government that wasn't getting shared at all levels. here the joint terrorism task force was aware of these two encounters between the fbi and this guy. we'll find that out, whether law enforcement did that. there were lots of statements about how that should be the rule because remember the fbi talked to tamerlan tsarnaev because the russians had sent the united states a message saying we're concerned about him and his mother. we think they may be coming to the u.s. tell us what you know. the fbi went out and interviewed him and interviewed the family, and there were some questions at the time about whether local folks, whether the boston police, found out about that. since then, the government has been making great efforts to try to keep local police informed of these jttf, standing for joint terrorism task force,

investigations. so the dots would have connected, we hope, on that level. but how do you get from somebody who spouts off about radical islam well before the formation of isis and then has some connection with some guy from his hometown that then goes off and commits a terrorist attack for isis or for radicals in syria and then get to attacking a gay nightclub? fair question. i'm sure we'll know in the coming days. >> pete, we'll let you return to your work and the folks you've been talking to all morning and afternoon. pete williams in our washington bureau. we're monitoring all kinds of press reports. one of them says that the ex-wife of this now dead terrorist, they were married for just a few months, perhaps three or four months. her father gave an interview. he lives in edison, new jersey.

he was abusive to his wife during the short time they were married. she called her parents and asked to be extracted from the relationship. this was years ago, but that is among the press reports circulating today. coming up on the very top of the 4:00 p.m. hour -- and it's a good time to recap this tragedy, enough sadness in orlando, florida, for the president of the united states to order flags flown at half staff at all u.s. properties, territories, and on our entire military fleet worldwide for that matter. 50 dead. 53 wounded. a total of 103 people that were hit by gunfire starting at 2:00 a.m. when a terrorist, an american, entered a gay