unexplained details reported particularly today and tonight. and we will have some kind of news on how the democratic presidential race ends in 2016. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. welcome to a special edition of "first look." i'm betty nguyen. president obama will head to orlando on thursday. he will pay his respects to the families of the victims and the survivors and the first responders. this comes after the president said it appears the gunman acted alone. >> it does appear that at the last minute he announced allegiance to isil. but there's no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by isil and also at this stage

there's no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot. >> today we have new images from inside the nightclub where the terror attack took place and we now know minute by minute how a single gunman carried out that attack. nbc's miguel almaguer has details. >> reporter: new images inside pulse. a gay nightclub during its popular latin night. music. dancing. and then gunfire. made alvear who captured the shooting is among the dead. today survivors describing the scene of terror. >> gunshots to the head, legs, arms, shoulders, stomach, backs. >> i can just smell the ammo in the air. this is a gun. >> it's awful. just to experience this with my fellow family. >> oh, my god! people are getting shot. >> at 2:00 a.m. an off duty officer in uniform engages omar

mateen, armed with the ar-15 assault rifle like this. a handgun and plenty of ammunition. nbc news has learned from authorities that the engaging officer retreated. backup arrived in two minutes. the injured pouring out. but others like eddie justice trapped inside. texting his mother mena, mommy, i love you. a team of responding officers then engages mateen in another gunfight. forcing him to retreat into one of the club's four bathrooms where he takes four to five hostages. another 15 people are hiding in a nearby restroom. dozens make a break for it. running for their lives. now a standoff from the bathroom and three 911 calls. mateen said to be calm, pledges allegiance to isis twice and then calls the tsarnaev brothers responsible for the boston marathon bombings his home boys. >> they got him to retreat into

the rear bath boom so it changed to the barricaded hostage situation. >> eddie justice texted his mom again, he's coming. i'm going to die. three hours after first shot was fired, police decide to storm the building. in armored -- an armored vehicle breaks the bathroom wall where mateen is hunkered down. at some point mateen hid among the dead to try to hide from police. >> the guy was making it seem like he was a victim also. >> reporter: he shoots one officer in the head, the 29-year-old suspect is finally killed. inside the club, 38 victims are dead. nine more would die on their way to or at the hospital. two bodies were found on the street. a night of celebration ending in terror. the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history. >> it appears the orlando gunman may have visited the scene of the attack before. one witness tells "the orlando

sentinel" that he had seen mateen in pulse at least a dozen times before the shooting. and msnbc's chris hayes spoke with cedeno, a regular at pulse, who actually lost friends there this weekend. he said that he recognized the gunman from dating apps for gay men and from seeing him inside pulse. >> one of my friends he doesn't want to be spoken to on media, he said he knew in guy from back in 2007 from when he was coming to orlando and to this area and he used to talk to him on the adam for adam app. once he saw the guy's picture on the news, he told his mom, i know this guy. his mom is like, no you couldn't have known him. he was like, no, i know this guy. i spoke with my friend and i told him i was like, i showed him -- yeah, from a gay dating app. and he instantly was like oh, my gosh, i knew i wasn't crazy. i know this guy. >> so -- i mean, so you're saying you and friends of yours, like -- familiar to you from the

gay dating app? >> one of my friends had seen in pulse before. he's been there several times. that's not his first time going there for. he clearly had a picture open on adam for adam. he's had his picture up on grinder. two of my friends went to the fbi and they already spoke with them. they already turned in their phones and they got all that information. >> joining me now from orlando is msnbc's blake mccoy. all right, what more can you tell us about the investigation and the rumored visits to the club? >> reporter: good morning to you. this is one of several men coming forward to say that mateen did frequent this pulse nightclub. law enforcement is investigating this aspect of the case. does this mean he had been scoping out the club for some time? with the intent of carrying out this attack, or does it mean he was a patron of the club. at least one of the people who came forward said he recognizes mateen from the club for several

years. so was he a patron and something made him snap and think of the pate rhapsodies differently and then carry out this attack? so it's certainly being investigated at this point and key to figuring that out is going to be the electronic evidence, the electronic trail he left behind. the fbi has recovered a samsung cell phone among other electronic devices and they have had no problem accessing the information. a cell phone is the best diary of a person's movements, not only do you have google search, gay dating apps, you'd be able to find those on there and any messages that were sent. but also, you know, the movements of that person can be tracked by that cell phone. there's an electronic record of all of your movements in that cell phone so that will be key in the investigation going forward and betty, as i said they're having no trouble accessing that information so far. >> that can be a treasure trove of information there. thank you so much. and there are growing

questions and concerns about how a man investigated by the fbi could legally purchase the guns used in the massacre and the fbi said there's no system in place to notify investigators when that purchase was made. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams reports. >> reporter: the fbi director says agents thoroughly investigated omar mateen in 2013 while working as a security guard the fbi says, he told co-workers he had family connections with al qaeda and he himself was a member of the mideast terror group hezbollah. agents put him under surveillance, watched his communications, had an undercover informant meet with him, searched databases and interviewed him twice. conclusion -- he made it all up. a few months later the fbi questioned him again about going to the same mosque as another ft. pierce man, abu salah. their contact, the fbi determined, was minimal. again, case closed. the fbi director says he doesn't

believe agents missed any sign that mateen would later become a terrorist. >> we are looking for needles in a nationwide hay stack, but we're also called upon to figure out which pieces of hay may become needles. that is hard work. if we can find a way to do that better we will. >> reporter: during the ten months mateen was under investigation, his name was on a terror watch list. if he had tried to buy a gun then, the fbi would have been notified. but not after the case was closed. a former top atf official says the system should be changed to send an alert when anyone who's ever been investigated for terrorism goes to buy a gun. >> if something changed and a neighbor called you and said he was calling in with large barrels of chemicals that would be a trip wire that you'd want to act on. but the same could be true if a person was trying to buy assault weapons and large amounts of ammunition. >> reporter: a little over a week ago, what teen went to this ft. -- mateen went to this ft.

pierce gun store and bought guns like these. >> unfortunately, he's evil. we happen to be the gun store he pick and there's nothing else i can say. >> reporter: mateen's cell phone covered in blood and other devices from his home are now being analyzed by the fbi lab in virginia. >> in the wake of the orlando massacre, gun sales of the ar-15 have skyrocketed. that's the tipping point. the shocking statistics just ahead.

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the names of all 49 victims from the orlando shooting have officially been released. we are starting to learn more about the individuals who lost their lives in the terror attack. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: at a night club called pulse they were full of life. 49 people, young, vibrant. dancing. luis vielma was only 22.

this man's son survive and he told the chilling story of the gunner coming back. >> shooting the people on the ground. to make sure they were dead. >> reporter: so many more killed whose stories we're beginning to learn. shane tomlinson graduated from east carolina where singing was his passion. kimberly morris had and independent streak. eric ortiz rivera had sacrificed a lot. sotomayor worked for a company. and peter gonzalez-cruz was always the life of the party. yet among the carnage stories of hope. keenan carter was shot three times. >> you have to wake up, got to make it. >> reporter: his sister said doctors told the family he passed away. >> i said do you hear me, and he shook his head. i was like -- i see this, you

see what's going on. it was just like a miracle, just like right before my eyes. >> gabe gutierrez reporting there. more than 40 of the 53 people injured remain hospitalized. some of which are listed in grave condition. nbc's sarah dallof is outside the regional medical. what's the latest on the injured? >> reporter: good morning. the hospital behind me where some of the most gravely injured were taken is sharing a glimmer of hope saying all paretients inside continue to improve. the prognosis is positive, an optimistic feel right now. now doctors and two of the people they treated are going to address the media. they're going to speak later this morning about the massive cooperation it took to treat the sudden influx of gunshot victims the night of the shooting. meanwhile, the community is coming together. those who lost friends and loved

ones, setting aside their own feelings to help others. >> as you can see here today it's brought us together. brought us together in a way that we're not going to let this tear us apart. it brings us together. and it makes us look very sincerely into the friendships and our community, how we can be there for each other. >> reporter: now, right after the shooting, blood banks put out an urgent call for donors and people responded en masse. lines stretching around blocks, people waiting for hours to donate. today they say those donations continue to come in and they encourage people to make an appointment to keep donating. they say the immediate need has been met but they need to fill that backlog. they are looking for a-positive and ab plasma donors. >> donations are so important. thank you 1067 for that. just ahead, the politics of terror. the presidential candidates weighed in with very different perspectives on how they would

prevent such attacks. a special report from katy tur is next. look at this, storm chasers got a close-up view of a tornado that damaged a wind storm in texas. it brought lightning and hail. check out this amazing time lapse video of a fast spinning wall cloud. that's going to produce a tornado and it looks like something out of a movie. nbc meteorologist bill karins has more -- >> amazing structure. that's come to an end today. we'll do it two days in a row, have a little minisevere weather outbreak in the next two days. des moines, possibly to davenport and the quad cities. 7 million people at risk today. tomorrow, huge population centers including chicago, detroit, indianapolis, louisville, 48 million people at risk tomorrow. isolated tornadoes, a lot of wind damage over the next two days. stay tuned to "first look." more on our terror in orlando special coverage after this. tired of re-dosing antacids?

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alert your doctoof new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. me serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelar® most people using stelara® or anysaw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®. the fallout from the orlando terror attack is reverberating on the campaign trail, most notably donald trump's unsubstantiated accusations and suggested that president obama doesn't want to stop terrorists. his comments ignited a political firestorm as he and hillary clinton laid out radically different approaches to fighting terror. nbc's katy tur has more. >> reporter: donald trump taking a dark turn suggesting president obama can't stop terror because he doesn't want to.

>> he doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody else understands. it's one or the other and either one is unacceptable. >> reporter: the white house pushing back. >> take a look at the president's record. it speaks for itself and that record includes a lot of dead terrorists. >> reporter: trump going head to head with hillary clinton. in dueling addresses on national security. while trump falsely characterized clinton's attacks on guns -- >> she wants to take away americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. let them come into the country, we don't have guns, let them come in. let them have all of the fun they want. >> reporter: clinton didn't name her republican rival. instead, calling for the same unity in the face of fear after 9/11. >> we did not attack each other. we worked with each other to protect our country and to rebuild our cities. >> reporter: trump's messaging the same as after the terror in san bernardino, paris and brussels. one rushed to tweet

self-congratulations, appreciate the congrats, thank you for giving me credit. i have proven to be far more correct about terrorism than anybody. the tweets often coming before offering condolences. to cast doubt on american muslims -- >> they have to cooperate with law enforcement and turn in the people who they know are bad. and they know it. >> reporter: and three, extend that doubt to president obama. >> a lot of people think he doesn't want to get it. a lot of people think he doesn't want know about it. >> reporter: trump is going farther to the right. hoping the same extreme rhetoric he championed in the primary will work again in november. >> following trump's jabs at president obama, "the washington post" published this article with the headline that said, donald trump seems to connect president obama to orlando shooting. soon after, trump revoked "the washington post's" press credentials calling the paper quote, phony and dishonest. the post executive editor said

his action is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of the free and independent press and that the paper would continue to cover donald trump as it has all along, honorably, unflinchingchy. they join the daily beast, national review, the huffington post, buzzfeed and others that have been banned by trump. jonathan allen joins me from washington. he's head of community in content for side wire and a columnist for roll call. >> good morning. >> you heard trump and hillary clinton react in different ways. trump, critics say he played on fear and played fast and loose with the facts is that true? >> if there were facts they were fastly and loosely. a lot of inaccurate statements and a lot of inaccurate statements in what he said, including how he characterized secretary clinton's position on guns and about the refugees coming into the united states. that criticism is fair and accurate. >> are people calling him on

that? besides the media, are people -- i guess out there in the political spheres really making a point to call him out on that because otherwise, people may hear that and think it's true. >> increasingly so, but we live in the era of modern communication and political candidates can talk to the people they want to talk without a media filter all the time. for example, through twitter and facebook. candidates can have a directed message without going through other outlets. you know, we saw this -- it's built over 2008 and 2012. and now 2016, donald trump can say what he wants. it's inaccurate and know it will be repeated ad nauseam. >> and clinton laid out a three-point plan to combat terrorism. was it new or often what we hear after a tragedy like this,

unfortunately? >> i think her plan to combat terrorism is what she is talking about all along in terms of trying to work with local law enforcement. beef up intelligence and work with allies overseas. what was different yesterday was clinton's embrace of the term radical islamism which president obama has shied away from from fear of tarnishing an entire religion with the acts of a few people. what she did yesterday was she seized some open ground politically by taking that term which is used a lot by republicans and people in the center right as well as the far right to characterize -- to characterize what some of the these -- what some of the pattern of these attacks has been. and at the same time, said she didn't want to declare war on islam. that gave her a center position as trump was tacking farther and farther to the right. >> jonathan, thank you for your insight today. >> take care, betty. following the orlando shooting gun sales in america have skyrocketed. a shocking report just ahead.

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the assault weapon used in the orlando massacre is available for legal purchase across the u.s. in fact, sales have skyrocketed after sunday's shooting at adventure outdoors gun shop near atlanta yesterday, more than ar-15 semiautomatic rifles were sold each hour than in a typical day. >> we have been selling ten an hour and right around lunch time we were selling 15 an hour. >> known as a weapon of war, the ar-15 has been used in mass

shootings on u.s. soil from aurora, colorado, to san bernardino. and now orlando. i'm betty nguyen. this is "first look" on msnbc. a special edition of "way too early" live from orlando starts right now. [ bells toll ] bells toll for each of the 49 people killed in the early sunday morning terrorist attack. thousands remember the victims as we learn more about the gunman. >> he's been in that venue several times that's not his first time going there. i know that for a fact. >> multiple reports that omar mateen went to the pulse nightclub often before the

attacks and that's not all. we'll have new information on the investigation. plus, president obama prepares for an emotional trip here to orlando. as the two people trying to succeed him trade blows over who's more qualified to be commander in chief. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, it is tuesday, june 14th. i'm chris jansing, live in orlando. a community still in grief this morning at the senseless violence that unfolded over 48 hours ago. an attention grabbing headline features the names of 49 people killed. strategically placed above the latest details of the investigation. at last check, 29 of the 44 patients who were rushed to orlando medical center are still there this