[ shots fired ] >> oh, my god. people are getting shot, dude. >> tonight we're learning more about the gunman and the twisted reasons why he reportedly carried out the attack. good evening, everyone. i'm molette green in for erika gonzalez. we have live team coverage on the orlando club shooting. you'll hear reaction from the capital pride festival and you'll see what local police are doing in response to the terrible tragedy, but we are going to begin tonight with nbc's jay

very latest information on this shooting, the suspect, and of course the injured with the number of dead still at 50. let's go now to jay gray. >> reporter: that's the pulse nightclub. still an active crime scene right now less than 24 hours after the deadliest mass shooting ever in the united states. across the street in the yellow tent here, that's a makeshift morgue at this point as investigators continue their work here. [ shots fired ] >> oh, my god. people are getting shot, dude. >> reporter: chaos during what witnesses describe as a slaughter. >> the other guy next to me was shot. >> reporter: 50 people murdered, more than 53 more wounded. >> i thought i was going to die. like i didn't know if i was going to come out alive. >> reporter: dozens were held hostage for three hours or more inside thelu

team moved in. the suspect killed during a shootout with police. 29-year-old omar mateen was the trigger man, described by federal agents as a domestic terrorist. we now know he was questioned in 2013 and again in 2014 by the fbi over possible terrorist ties. >> it's been reported that mateen made calls to 911 this morning in which he stated allegiance to the leader of islamic state. >> reporter: he also mentioned the boston marathon bombing before the attack. mateen's family told nbc news he may have carried out the most deadly shooting in the united states after seeing two men kissing in miami. >> in

crime scene. law enforcement is working it as efficiently and diligently as they possibly can while being respectful of the remains of the deceased. >> reporter: the club is an agonizing reminder -- >> attacks on any american is an attack on all of us. >> reporter: a staggering blow to a city and nation now mourning so many lost. federal agents say mateen was armed with a handgun and assault rifle he apparently purchased legally just a few days before the attack. that's the latest live here in orlando. now back to you. >> thank you so much. the shooting sending shock waves around the country and right here in our community. we have a team of reporters working on the massacre. look for more reports from darcy spencer and

we want to take a closer look at what we're learning about omar mateen, the 29-year-old. he lived in port st. lucie. he was a u.s. citizen and his parents are from afghanistan. his father said the attack had nothing to do with religion, but what set him off was seeing two men kissing in miami, but mateen was on the fbi's radar. >> the fbi first became aware of mateen in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to coworkers. the fbi investigated the matter including interviews of witnesses, surveillance, and records checks. mateen was interviewed twice. ultimately, we were unable to verify the substance of his comments and the investigation was closed. >> now the fbi also interviewed mateen in 2014 after informa

surfaced about possible ties to an american suicide bomber. that investigation determined there was no relationship between the two and no threat. now president obama called the shooting an act of terror and an act of hate. the president then asked for the country to come together in the wake of the tragedy. >> in the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. we will not give into fear or turn against each other. instead we will stand united as americans to protect our people and defend our nation and to take action against those who threaten us. >> reaction from the presidential candidates coming up a little bit later on. show mar shomari stone continues our coverage. shomari, security has been stepped up because of this tragedy in orlando. what are you seeing?

capital pride festival on the 700 block of pennsylvania avenue. take a look across the street. you can see d.c. police are parallel to the entrance. on the other side of that bus right over there, there are hundreds of people who are out here. they've been out here all day. many of them have a sense of sadness for the folks in orlando. let's roll some video right now. d.c. police have increased the security here at the capital pride festival just blocks away from the u.s. capital. security checked people's bags and frisked them to see if they had any weapons or sploexplosiv devices. d.c. mayor muriel bowser said security measures out here at the festival have been increased. people tell me they appreciate the added security. >> i feel sad for what happened down there, but i feel relatively safe here. >> i feel perfectly safe here. >> reporter: now we are waiting to get an update from

chief cathy lanier about this increase in security. meanwhi meanwhile, there is a candlelight vigil expected at the white house around 8:30 tonight. we'll carry it on our nbc washington app and on twitter at nbc washington. live here at the capital pride festival, i'm shomari stone. news4. as you can imagine, news of the shooting dominated conversation at the capital pride festival today. darcy spencer continues our team coverage. >> reporter: they are expecting 200,000 people at the festival this year. and those we spoke to say they're not going to let what happened in orlando stop them from coming and celebrating. ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ >> i would like to now ask us for a moment of silence in remembrance of those who have died. >> reporter: the shooting at a

of many here at the pride festival. >> you didn't think twice about coming? >> not at all. not at all. i did hear about the shooting and that is very saturdad. >> reporter: the festival held every year to celebrate the lgbt community and it's grown into a family event. >> our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and friends, everyone in central florida. >> reporter: many told me they felt it important to come show their support and not the violence there stop the celebration of community here. >> i don't think it's going to damper the festival here in d.c., but it is tragic. everyone should be keeping them in their thoughts and prayers as we celebrate pride here. >> i hope it's an isolated incident. we send our prayers and our love out to the whole community down there. >> reporter: this is the 41st year for the

organizers tell me they didn't make any changes as a result of that shooting in orlando. in northwest washington, darcy spencer, news4. given his contact with the fbi and questions about his past, lots of questions tonight about mateen, how he got off that federal radar and could legally buy firearms. we want to bring in pete williams. pete, get us up to speed on the very latest, what your sources are saying about this man, his background, and connections to terror. >> we know an amazingly large amount of information given how briefly it was a short time ago that this happened. we know that he is a u.s. citizen. his parents are afghan immigr t immigran immigrants. they moved to florida just before he was in high school. he has been a security guard since about 2007. had a state license that allowed him to be a security guard, which means that he was

he had to go prove his proficiency. the atf says he bought the weapons that he used in the shooting, a handgun and an ar-15 style assault rifle, just a week before the shooting. bought them locally and then drive the two hours to orlando before the shooting. why he attacked that specific club, why now, was it because of ramadan and gay pride time? the fbi doesn't know the answer to those questions yet. he was on the radar once in 2013 because of comments he made to coworkers. they interviewed him. they decided there was nothing to it, that he was just spouting off. then a year later he had some contact with a man who is from ft. pierce, florida, where this man was living. this man went to syria, got some training, came back, tried to recruit people to join him,

went back to syria again and carried out a suicide bombing. the fbi saw there was contact but it was minimal. they interviewed him again and once again case closed. >> isis has claimed responsibility, even saying on one of its media outlets that one of our fighters basically did this. have we been able to really nail that down, whether or not that's true? >> well, the problem wit that is the claim of credit or the claim of association saying he's one of ours came well after it was publicly reported. just before the shooting and during a point in the shooting, he made a call. got a 911 connection with the police and expressed support for al baghdadi, who is the head of isis. also talked about other attacks he supported, including the boston marathon bombings and the two brothers who carried that out. >> where does the investigation go from here because there are so many angles? the fbi, federal

have a lot of work here to do. >> sadly, it's a pattern that we've seen before that they're going to follow. it's pretty straightforward. they'll try to reconstruct the minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months leading up to this shooting to try to find if they can what was the precipitating event. his father said he thinks it was something that happened two months ago when the family was in miami and he saw gay people kissing. his father says that made him very angry. >> thank you so much, pete, for coming in. we appreciate your expertise here. well, all of the presidential candidates weighed in on the shooting in a statement on facebook. hillary clinton called for the u.s. to redouble its efforts in defending the country from terror. she also called for guns to be kept out of the hands of terrorists, saying, quote, weapons of war have no place on our streets. donald trump sent several tweets earlier today saying, quote,

praying for all the victims and their families. when will this stop? when will we get tough, smart, and vigilant? bernie sanders talked to chuck todd this morning. >> we have got to do everything that we can to prevent guns from falling into the hands of people who should not have them. that means expanding the instant background check. it means doing away with the gun show loophole. i think there is a wide consensus to move forward in that direction. >> sanders went on to say he will meet with hillary clinton this week and will do everything he can to keep donald trump out of the white house. open our nbc washington app for more coverage of the orlando shooting. we've got information about how the district is reacting to the massacre. you'll also find a photo gallery and a timeline showing how the events unfolded. just search orlando shooting in the nbc washington app. we have much

orlando club shooting. aaron gilchrist just got to the scene. his report coming up later in this newscast.

♪ ♪ stronger is blasting without risking her bones. it's training her good cells... to fight the bad guys. stronger is less pain... new hope... more fight.

and everything in ours. stronger, is changing even faster than they do. because we don't just want your kids to grow up. we want them to grow up stronger. you are very upset. what's happening? >> my son was in the nightclub with his boyfriend and other friends.

got shot multiple times and is in the emergency room. i don't know where my son is. nobody can tell me where my son is. >> a mother there desperately trying to figure out the condition of her son. our local leaders expressed their condolences to the victims of the tragedy. muriel bowser tweeted a statement saying the city's heart was heavy. govern governor's terry mcauliffe and larry hogan delivered their statements of solidarity and condolences. d.c. police asked people taking part in today's pride events to keep florida in mind and added their would be extra police presence today. finally, this picture from the dupont circle fountain.

d.c. loves you, orlando. we have a couple of important programming notes for you. first, lester holt is in orlando right now. he will anchor a special edition of "nightly news" from orlando immediately after this newscast. after "nightly news," you'll see a special edition of dateline. he'll anchor the program called "terror in orlando" which will be about the massacre.

flags lowered at the white house just a few hours ago. president obama ordered flags to be flown at half staff at all federal buildings until thursday for the victims of the orlando club shooting. our team coverage of the club shooting continues now. news4 aaron gilchrist just arrived in orlando. aaron, set the scene for us right now. >> reporter: molette, we've been on the ground here for about 45 minutes now. this is still very much an active crime scene. you can see a large response from local, state, and federal law enforcement. they are just outside the pulse nightclub, which is maybe two and a half blocks away from where we're standing right now. we believe at this point there are some of the victims, those 50 people who died inside that club, still on the

still being done. this area will be closed off. we're 16 hours since this all started at 2:00 in the morning at the pulse nightclub where omar mateen went in armed with two weapons and started shooting and was involved in a standoff with police for about two hours before they were able to go and take him out. 53 people were injured. 53 people taken to the hospital. some of the 50 we know who died were part of the group that went to the hospital and died later. this investigation is far from over here in orlando. >> aaron, i know that you are just a few blocks from the club and you've had a chance to kind of see what's going on. orlando is known as a happy place. tell me about the community reaction from local folks there and those who might be arriving

lot of people who have gathered around where the media is stationed right now sort of watching. a lot of shocked faces. there's been an effort all day long here to try to -- people looking for some way to get involved, some way to do something productive. there have been blood drives. they've asked people to stop donating blood, at least for today, because the rush of people who have been trying to do that has been so large. there's been an effort to set up vigils across the community. the city of orlando asking people not to do that at this point because they don't have the manpower. this is such a large police response. they want to wait until they ensure that vigils across the city can be protected. they want to devote their manpower here to this issue before vigils. >> aaron gilchrist live in orlando. thank you so very much. we'll see you back at 11:00 for the v

the council on american islamic relations strongly condemning the nightclub massacre. within the past hour, we heard from the group at its capitol hill headquarters. >> members of the lgbtqia community have stood shoulder to shoulder with the muslim community against any acts of hate crimes, islamophobia and discrimination. today we stand with them shoulder to shoulder. >> the group is calling on the muslim community nationwide to donate blood. new information coming in. police in california stopped a heavily armed man reportedly on his way to do harm at a gay pride event. james howell of indiana, he reportedly told police he was on his way to the l.a. pride parade in west hollywood. police say they got a call about a suspicious vehiclnd

an acura sedan near santa monica. he had weapons and other dangerous material, including explosives. th fe ibis investigating and right now there is no known connection to the orlando

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we want to recap what we know about the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history. omar mateen opened fire inside the pulse nightclub in orlando, florida this morning. 50 people died. more than 50 others were ed. the fbi says mateen pledged allegiance to isis just before the shooting, but it's not yet clear whether he had any connection to the terror group. the fbi had interviewed mateen in the past, but

on this sunday night, terror in orlando. the deadliest shooting in u.s. history. at least 50 people shot and killed in a crowded gay nightclub. man with an assault rifle and handgun taking hostages before he was finally killed. for the 15th final the president coming before the nation after a mass shooting. >> this was an act of terror. and an act of hate. >> the shooter pledging allegiance to isis and his father recently voiced anger about gays. plus, the victims and how police s.w.a.t. teams saved many more from near certain death as survivors described the panic, the disbelief, the