. >> the shooting becoming a hostage situation. s.w.a.t. teams storming in to save at least 30 hostages and killed gunmen. this morning the violence being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. >> absolutely, we are investigating this from all parties perspectives as an act of terrorism. >> this morning the horror and full scope of the shooting still unfolding. >>> to a scene of mass violence here is the latest. orlando police say approximately 20 people are dead and 42 are injured after a gunman walked into a popular gay nightclub called pulse. some running from the scene and others held hostage inside. the gunman has not yet been identified, but we do know he is dead, killed by police. investigators again, describing a hostage situation and that's when they moved in. authorities say the gunman was armed with an assault-style rifle, a handgun and some sort of device on his person. the fbi saying this will be investigated as a domestic act of terror. we have this in orlando with nbc's sarah dallof. >> reporter: good morning. a tragic scene

over the course of about three hours they decide then at 5:00 in the morning to send in the s.w.a.t. team. what would that decision be like to send in s.w.a.t.? >> it's the on-scene tactical commander. the orlando s.w.a.t. they're going to make the decision reading the escalation and deescalation of the event whether they can stay negotiating or make a move. the chief said they had to make a move to rescue people, 15 to 30, who were in a bathroom and they used explosive entry, they used a bearcat armored vehicle and they punched in there and engaged the subject when he came out in the hallway. of course s.w.a.t. officers are well trained, great shots, and they were able to take him out but he wounded one of the orlando pd officers, hit his helmet and maybe wounded his eye slightly. but they were able to stop any more killing by that decision to make the entry at that time. >> and we don't know the exact layout of the nightclub but you look at that space, 320 people in a relatively tight space, a shootout in there obviously would have huge ramifications and has this morning. the decision b

the s.w.a.t. team who was wearing it. >>> quite an image, the bruise on that s.w.a.t. team member. we say good tuesday morning. we are learning a lot more this morning about the massacre in orlando including that new information that the gunman had apparently frequented that same nightclub in the past. >> this was the scene in orlando last night as nearly 8,000 gathered for a candlelight vigil. a nearby church bell tolled 49 times, once for each victim killed. >> and all of those victims have now been identified by authorities. their families being told about their loved ones, so arrangements can be made. >> president obama will personally meet some of those families on thursday when he visits orlando. abc's elizabeth hur is there with the latest on this investigation. good morning, elizabeth. >> reporter: diane and kendis, good morning to you and, yes, as the search for the motive continues here at the scene this search of this the suspect's apartment is revealing. no sign of the devotion to isis he professed. from paris to new york and here in orlando, touching tributes. >> to the

. >> reporter: they tried to hide in the bathroom as police s.w.a.t. teams swarmed in. >> the shooter came into the stall. they killed him. i watched him die. >> reporter: the s.w.a.t. team pulled them out but kyra didn't make it. >> my cousin had the brightest future in front of her. >> reporter: so many survivors of the orlando massacre watched friends die that night. investigators are now focusing on the shooter's wife, noor salman trying to determine if she had information that could have prevented the tragedy. law enforcement sources say that salman allegedly went with her husband to buy ammunition prior to the attack. abc news has also learned that salman allegedly suggested to the fbi she tried to talk her husband out of harming anyone. if true, she could face criminal charges. investigators are also pouring over the shooter's phone looking for connections to the gay community. a decade ago the shooter met this man who didn't want his face shown. >> he asked if i was gay and because i wasn't out at the time, i told him no, i'm not and he said if you w

the s.w.a.t. team, the call was made to the s.w.a.t. team and the incident commander and some, i understand crisis negotiator was also called to make contact with the shooter. not sure if that happened and then the decision was made to make entry and put a stop to this very horrific tranl di that occurred in our city. >> how often, given your experience, although we should say there are few people who have been able to experience something like this, given this is the worst mass shooting in husist u.s. history. but a crisis negotiator how often is someone like that able to talk a person intent on killing out of conducting this heinous crime? >> i have spent 12 years as a member of the hostage negotiations team. you know, the officers, hostage negotiations all over the country at all levels have very successful outcomes. but we know if a person is intent to do harm, like it appears the shooter was last night it does not always work in every situation and apparently certainly did not in this one. >> do you find it disconcerting this man, o

then the s.w.a.t. team showed up in a half hour. after the shooting started, and s.w.a.t. team members are not first responders. they have a different scenario. i did it ten years with marshal special operations group. it is a different program than responding to an active shooter and going into challenge the individual right away. >> chris, we don't know the answer to this, but he had security guard training, various levels of training, he probably had trained in active shooter drills i assume and i wonder if that comes into play in police consideration of the kind of opponent they're dealing with. >> that's part of the information they pulled in. clearly this guy had a predetermined plan, he mapped it out step by step. this is what you refer to as a killing journey, he was at the destination of the killing journey. as much as he planned what it would look like there, he planned reactions to law enforcement. he did things like claiming he had explosives to keep law enforcement out. it was very planned. interest what i see, they responded as well as they possibly could have

it is important for the s.w.a.t. teamiators to learn, what things did we miss, what is collected, and what was known inside the club. all of these questions must be asked by the law enforcement, the tactical folks, negotiators and on scene commanders so that they can say what did we know, when did we know it, and did we take the right steps. they have to reconstruct it, tear it apart and say how can we be better the next time. because somewhere in america this will happen again, but hopefully never on this scale. >> we have a new report, coming into the newsroom, 50 people dead, one of the worst mass shootings in the u. s. history. >> reporter: to my knowledge it is, and my notes go back to virginia tech, 32. looking at sandy hook, san bernardino of course. i am unaware of anything on this scale. i was in the studio and stunned because from the time i got for my car to the studio, it went from 20 to 50. that takes your breath away.>> we go back to the gunmen, who is now dead, omar mateen . what do you make of this profile

the s.w.a.t. team captain talking for the first time, and we have new video tonight of the moments before the gunfire and then during that massacre. and when the s.w.a.t. teams blew through that nightclub wall. afterward, the wall riddled with bullet holes. tonight, we also have major new developments on the gunman who the fbi had interviewed three times. and we have now learned he was under fbi surveillance for ten months at one point. how did he get those guns in recent days without that federal background check alerting anyone at the fbi? and, of course, the human face of this horrible story. the images of so many of the young people who have died. tonight here, we have the list. but we begin with that s.w.a.t. team captain. and abc's gio benitez here in orlando. >> reporter: tonight, chilling new details about the deadly rampage, and the three-hour standoff between police and a determined terrorist. ♪ late night, couples dancing at the popular gay club, pulse. and just after 2:00 a.m., omar mateen

the s.w.a.t. team went in, they crashed an armored car through one of the walls of the club, threw in a number of stun grenades, flash-bang grenades that don't throw any shrapnel but make a mig noise and a bright light to distract the gunman. then they opened fire on the gunman. the police chief has told us that about 30 hostages were saved by this s.w.a.t. team action. now, as mark strassmann was telling us a moment ago, the gunman has been identified from multiple source as a 29-year-old florida man, omar mateen, mr. mateen's parents are apparently of afghan descent. his father has been speaking to the media and has told reporters that in his opinion, none of this has anything to do with religion, that their son did have anti--gay feelings. this was a gay bar in orlando that was attacked and that is what the father is saying the motivation was. if you're looking at this picture now, this is apparently the family home. we don't know whether the suspect, omar mateen was living with his parents but this

but it was some couple of hours or so before the s.w.a.t. team made a decision to assault the buildingm they did with flash bang grenades and an assault vehicle. the gunman was holed up in the building with several hostages and the s.w.a.t. team was able to shoot and kill the gunman on the spot. apparently saving at least 30 lives, the number of people who were being held

they have the s.w.a.t. team here. the s.w.a.t. team has surrounded this house at roberts and washington for the last couple of hours. they relieved the alameda county sheriff's department earlier. they had tried shooting flash bangs, non-elitele flash bangs into the house. they also threw tear gas into the house and that's believed to have started this fire to erupt in the first place. so far this suspect, you know, has not come out at all this morning. they tried to bring out the suspect's parents to coax him out. nothing has worked. at this point we are waiting to hear back from either oakland police or freemont police to find out what's the result here. is the suspect inside? is he dead? did he somehow escape? we know that there is a perimeter still set up in the freemont and washington area. there has been a shelter in place here in effect. but just sort of a crazy situation out here as we watch this fire just completely burn away and destroy this home that is not believed to be the suspect's. this is a house that police say th

the s.w.a.t. teamme, and we have new video tonight of the moments before the gunfire and then during that massacre. and when the s.w.a.t. teams blew through that nightclub wall. afterward, the wall riddled with bullet holes. tonight, we also have major new developments on the gunman who the fbi had interviewed three times. and we have now learned he was under fbi surveillance for ten months at one point. how did he get those guns in recent days without that federal background check alerting anyone at the fbi? and, of course, the human face of this horrible story. the images of so many of the young people who have died. tonight here, we have the list. but we begin with that s.w.a.t. team captain. and abc's gio benitez here in orlando. >> reporter: tonight, chilling new details about the deadly rampage, and the three-hour standoff between police and a determined terrorist. ♪ late night, couples dancing at the popular gay club, pulse. and just after 2:00 a.m., omar mateen arrives heavily armed, with a hig

the k-9 units called in and the s.w.a.t. teamsquad and ambulances and local support systems and teams are in place while this has been going on. social media played a huge part in this. the club's facebook page when this initial happen said everybody get out of pulse and keep running, and people took to twitter putting up pictures of the police presence saying something is going on, and what we are seeing now is the pulse nightclub, which is just south of orlando, and day is breaking down there, when all this starred it was 2:00 a.m. and very dark and now we are getting a better aerial picture of the pulse nightclub. more details will be emerging as this day unfolds and as police and the crime scene investigators there on the scene now will be coming up with hopefully some answers as to why a shooter went into the nightclub and just started shooting, and possibly help on that, clint van zant. this is a scenario you covered before, but it's always -- it's very difficult when this happens because we don't know if there are casualti

the s.w.a.t. team killed mateen, a 29-year-old u.s. citizen from florida who worked as a security guard. he purchased the weapons legally and had been on the radar. sources tell cbs news mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to isis. the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. >> we must spare no effort to determine what, if any, inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. >> reporter: isis is claiming responsibility for the brutal attack, calling mateen an islamic state fighter. >> a number of candlelight vigils are planned, some for tonight, many for tomorrow night, and successive nights for several days to come. live in orlando, craig boswell. >> what's going on right now at the scene? >> right now investigators still working this crime scene. you can see the crime scene tape closer to the club. they're removing the crime scene tape and adding metal fences so they can better secure this crime scene. as for bystanders, many standing off to my left, on the other side of the club, just tr

>> the bomb squad is here and common response with s.w.a.t. team in the event we need to do breaching of doors, bomb squad is here to facilitate that in terms of ordinance or explosive we need to breach doors. there has not been any reports of bombs or devices at this point. >> reporter: we heard multiple suspects. are we focused on -- >> i don't have a description. as soon as i get one i will be happy to do that. >> reporter: are you confirming reports of two victims? >> i have not had that confirmed to me yet. cannot confirm that. >> has there been anybody transported from the scene, any injuries? >> not to my knowledge. >> reporter: how about suspect or suspects? one or two? >> i don't know that information yet. as soon as i can confirm, information comes in from a lot of different resources. a lot of information is not accurate at this point. >> reporter: in terms of what happened, when this happened? >> what we do know 10:00 this morning, a shooting occurred on the ucla campus and we have reports there may be one or two victims. we don't have

when the orlando police s.w.a.t. team used stun grenades and an armored vehicle to smash into the building and engage the gunman in a gun fight. we have just received some audio of that. let's have a listen: ( gunfire ) ( gunfire ) >> oh my god. >> pelley: part of the sound of the gunfire that ended this terrible siege here in orlando, florida. the tony awards ceremony will go on this evening. it will be aired on cbs. that is in new york tonight. but the producers have decided to dedicate the award ceremony to the victims and the families here in orlando. in a statement the producers said "our hearts are heavy for the unimaginable tragedy that happened last night in orlando. our thoughts are with the families and friends of those affected." we'll bring you up to date on all the latest information when all the latest information when we come back.,,,,,, >> pelley: here in orlando they are beginning to remove the 50 bodies from the pulse nightclub just over there behind me, over my left shoulder. the mayor has told us that

changing so rapidly, so dramatically and we just found out that is because from the time that the s.w.a.t. team went in, the nine-man s.w.a.t. team went in and rescued 30 people until now there were thought to be an unknown number of devices because omar mateen had at least one device in addition to an ar-15 style assault rifle and a handgun. so it took a lot of time, but they just in the last few minutes cleared the scene and they are going in. this is from the police chief just now. >> nightclub pulse has been cleared and deemed safe of any devices. we are in the process of clearing the suspect's vehicle, which is a van, right outside. and just we ask that people be patient. unfortunately there are many victims inside the club. >> as this was unfolding pulse posted on their social media accounts, everyone get out of pulse and keep running, that was shortly after 2:00 a.m. the 30 hostages were held until about 5:00 a.m. i had a chance to ask authorities why they waited for three hours to go in and try to save these people's lives and they said that they needed to stage equipment and they also

. >> three hours after the shooting started a s.w.a.t. team burst into the club. david ward captured cell phone. gun gun the s.w.a.t. team killed mateen. he purchased the guns legally. he had been on the radar of the fbi. before the shooting mateen called 911. president barack obama says it will be investigated as an act of terrorism. >> we must spare no effort to find the inspiration or affiliation this person had with terror groups. >> the fbi twice investigated him to terrorism but in 2013 and 2014 found nothing. today isis claimed responsibility calling him an islamic state fighter. back to you. >>> shooting happened during the height of pride celebrations including capitol pride here in d.c. organizers continuing with today's event but with more security. we know to the festival. what are people saying about this mass shooting there? >> reporter: first security t it is important to note we are in an area guarded. capitol building in the background, dc police headquarters and court buildings it in the area but the police are not willing to taka risks issuing a

then there were gunshots exchanged between the s.w.a.t. team the suspect at 0500 hours. >> so of the 50 fatalities we have, do we know if they were all killed at the initial shooting? >> that's unknown at this time. >> so is this classified right now as a hate crime or as a terrorist event? >> we'll determine whether it's officially a hate crime, terrorism. as much as i'd like to give you all the information we have, we can't give you anything that's not 100% accurate. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> again, since the subject has not been positively identified to the next of kin, there's not a whole lot more we can share with you at this time. also bear in mind we do not want top jeopardize the investigation. while we feel confident there are no immediate threats to the area or the united states of america, we need to be certain of that before we put anymore information out. >> was anyone injured by officers' fire, and were any officers injured? >> unknown at this time. there was one officer injured. he was hit in the kevlar helmet with a round fr

at 5:00, while authorities and the s.w.a.t. team still had the cover of darkness on their side, they decided they needed to breach the door, try to save those people. they did save the 30 hostages. they did kill the gunman right there. but when they surveyed the scene, they realized that there were at least -- or approximately 20 people dead inside. we do not still have a precise count, victim count, because the bomb squad was in there. we understand that this suspect had some sort of a device in addition to a long gun and a handgun. but just to -- just so you have a sense of how urgent the scene was, pulse, as this was all unfolding, tweeted at one point, everyone get out of pulse and keep running. we understand that of the 320, there are 42 people at hospitals right now. at least 20 dead. we hope to get more information about the shooter at a press conference that's scheduled to go off within the next ten minutes, maria. >> we're being told the number of fatalities may be a lot worse than what we know right now. we also know 42 pe

and that he was told by commanders to hang back while omar mateen was in the bathroom until the s.w.a.t. teamhere. we heard that they engaged omar mateen. this officer says he never saw mateen and took the assault rifle and held the position until the s.w.a.t. team got there. it is a little more information from somebody that was actually there when the standoff started. mateen was in there for about three hours or so before the s.w.a.t. team made the decision to reach the night club and take him down. >> thanks for the update. appreciate it. >>> coming up next, the coast guard searching for a dad and three teens vanishing off the coast of florida days ago. we take you there for the latest. what are you doing? getting faster. huh? detecting threats faster, responding faster, recovering faster. when your security's built in not just bolted on, and you protect the data and not just the perimeter, you get faster. wow, speed kills. systems open to all, but closed to intruders. trusted by 8 of 10 of the world's largest banks. for over 100 yearsaking like kraft has,al cheese you learn a lot about p

. >>> in other news, the deadly shootout inside a walmart today. s.w.a.t. teams moving in, horrified customers hiding. >>> and severe storms hitting from texas right up through chicago, in the next 24 hours. >>> good evening. and we're back tonight from orlando, where there are fast-moving developments. the fbi right now is laser focused on the gunman's wife. abc news has just learned that after agreeing to be questioned, authorities confronted her with closed circuit tv footage from around orlando. and then, a polygraph. this video. this is omar mateen's wife getting into that car, agents escorting her back to her apartment to pack up her things. it's not clear where she is tonight. but the gunman's family tells abc news that the wife is, in fact, under fbi scrutiny, and all of this comes as we learn more about the shooter's secret life. what a former classmate is now revealing to us, and patrons of that orlando nightclub w before. abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas is in florida, leading us off. >> reporter: tonight, the fbi is locked in on the wi

and i've trained on the s.w.a.t. team when i was in the fbi and worked very closely with hostage rescue team, state and local law enforcement tactical response agencies. there are multiple ways you respond. in an incident like this, this is a dynamic assault. you have an active shooter, somebody who has already killed people. there are more lives in jeopardy. every second counts. those officers want to get into the environment, they recognize that it will be low lighting conditions. very difficult to ascertain who the actual threat is in a place where you can imagine hundreds of people. the music is disorienting if that is still going on. but these officers are trained to go to the shooter. and they are running into the battle and their job is to neutralize that threat. and in a dynamic assault, it's the most important spepiece. seed sf the essence. these officers train for this. unfortunately, active shooter is not an unusual thing. law enforcementment constantly training for this type of an incident. >> man knany oig go

but right over here you see the command post set up, the s.w.a.t. team is out here and multiple agencies are represented. manufacture the officers are start trying to stay cool while other detectives and officers are dog a block by block search looking for one possibly two suspects. right now they're primarily focusing on one suspect. sky 7 had hd was overhead right after those first shots were fired it happened behind an auto zoe around the corner from where we're standing right now. the officer was trying to make a traffic stop and then all of a sudden the suspect tried to back up had his vehicle into the officer. shots were fired it's still unclear exactly what happened whether the officer was hit or whether the suspect was hit. that's still under investigation. we talked to the public information officer for fremont police, and she tells us why there is that confusion at this point. >> definitely sustained injuries we're not going to confirm what if it was a gunshot, but we believe that the vehicle backed into the officer. the officer went down. ther

five members of the s.w.a.t. team from lapd just went in. this is literally -- that's the engineering hall right across the street. that's the hall we are talking about here on the ground. they've been going in from all different angles. they brought in a hook and ladder truck potentially either to block off the street or maybe a different level of that building if need be. there are outside balconies. this is main westwood drag, as we call it here for a slang term. westwood boulevard that comes in to ucla. to the right and left you see basically officers in all directions. the suspects, the problem you are having when you talk to authorities, they just don't know. these situations are fluid. you get people that will tell you one thing and somebody else will see is the exact same scene and say something completely different. that's what they're dealing with right now, trying to sort it through to figure out what they are looking for. meantime they are going through this hall room by room. they have to be incredibly careful because they don't

that led to a three-hour hostage standoff at which point 5:00 in the morning east coast time the s.w.a.t. team was sent in. omar mateen was killed but not before 50 people died inside the club. 53 more were injured. carlos row sasario was there whe heard 20 rounds of gunfire. he said the only reason he is alive is because he was out on that patio and he's been generous enough to spend some time with us. carlos, i'm so glad you're here talking with us right now. tell us what you saw and heard last night. >> yeah. first of all, i want to thank you for having me on and i also want to send my condolences to the families that lost so many lives today and for those that are injured. but to get back to the patio, i actually was inside on the main dance floor. i was getting ready to order a cocktail or a drink, but i felt like it was a little too packed inside, so i actually walked out to the patio where there was less people so i can be able to order my last drink. as i was putting my order in, i was leaning over the counter talking to one of my best bartenders, holly, and that's when the first of 20

we have the most heroic and courageous s.w.a.t. team members around, and they did a fabulous job and saved many lives.>> reporter: was this a suicide mission for him? [ question inaudible ]>> i don't know about the third gun being recovered.>> reporter: [ inaudible ]>> we could not determine that based on our conversations that we had with him.>> reporter: [ inaudible ]>> the lounge area, bathroom and bar area. dozens and dozens of people were saved after the initial responding officers made the first entry. we had to get the people out of the dance floor, and out of the bar/lounge area.>> reporter: [ question inaudible ] what made it imminent?>> there was a timeline given, and we believe there was a month loss of life that we needed to prevent.>> reporter: [ question inaudible ]>> there were no reports of shots fired during that time that i am aware of. thank you very much.>> one more question.>> reporter: [ question inaudible ] >> our mission from the tampa perspective in orlando is to work this case forward and back. headquarters is

that early sunday morning, the man who led the charge, the head of the s.w.a.t. team is a muslim-american, who is regular at our mosque. compare that with the criminal who committed this atrocity. he had never been to the mosque. we never saw him. we didn't know his name. so, a good example of an american-muslim is a police officer, a captain, over 20 years on the force, who led the charge as the head of the s.w.a.t. team, put his life on the line to rescue hostages. >> let me ask you about this. we had focus on the muslim community, and throwing people off buildings, torturing people, torturing gay team. >> these are the cases of the so-called islamic state, which was a terrorist organization. they don't represent islam. they are a call for hate and death and destruction. >> you don't think that islam teaches that, not necessarily to kill people burks certainly that, you know, we hear that love the sinner but not the sin. and even in christianity, it teaches that homosexuality is a sin. >> that, for centuries, this is the position of the islamic scholars, just like i

. >> the scene itself, a bloody shootout. a s.w.a.t. team swarming the club, taking out the shooter. survivors running for their lives, as ambulances rushed victims to the hospital. now, america on edge this morning. waiting for answers. from abc news, it's "this week." here now, chief anchor george stephanopoulos. >>> and we begin with the horrifying news breaking overnight in florida. what appears to be the deadliest terror attack on american soil since 9/11. around 2:00 a.m., a gunman exchanged gun fire with police, took hostages at a nightclub in orlando. three hours later, police s.w.a.t. teams move in, kill the gunman. find a scene of carnage. police believe the gunman acted alone. he was organized and well prepared. armed with an assault rifle. a handgun. at least one other suspicious device. they believe he traveled to orlando from outside the area. and he may have been motivated by radical ideology. officials calling this an incident of domestic terror. lauren list sir on the ground in orlando. >> reporter: good morning, george. thi

s.w.a.t. in there, and they used an explosive entry and then the shots that were reported right after the explosion were the s.w.a.t. team and the suspect engaging, and he was killed. they are pretty definitive, they believe there is terror as a motive. that means a political motive. so that's what they seem to be saying, although it's not quite clear how they are determining that. they are saying there are some indications, but -- that terrorism discussion is a wide one and it could mean a lot of things. >> when you have that discussion, you also consider that this pulse nightclub bills itself as a gay nightclub and the reporting from sarah dallof said it welcomes people of all walks of life in the club and when specifically asked by a reporter whether that could be the consideration, the officers couldn't comment on that. when you hear these law enforcement talk about the gunman that he was well prepared and organized and not from the area and still trying to positively identify this shooter, it is also interesting how they considered in going about in actually entering, when using explosive devices, they were contacte

you can see the side of the building where it was blown out by the s.w.a.t. teamt made their entrance in there to be able to confront the suspect and take him down. of course busy orange avenue that leads right past and to the club still shut down at this hour tonight as investigators and a lot of them remain on the continue that painstaking work. this has been painful not only for the community and not only for many of the puerto rican but the gay community. so many people wanted to step forward and help. because of a band on blood donations by gay they could not step in and do the work they wanted to do. let's check in with mola lenghi for that side of the story. >> reporter: people lined up at the red cross is d. c. to give blood and stand in solidarity with orlando and it's gay community. >> something that i can do for this horrible tragedy. >> gay men are limited to help. the fda has banned donations with men that have had sex about another man but they changed that in the last year. organizations like the red cross are legally turn this people away. >> moral

the s.w.a.t. team used an armored vehicle to break into the building where people were being held hostage. that decision likely saved dozens of lives to move in. once they moved in the shooter came out and was killed. we are learning more about that shooter. 29-year-old omar mateen. his ex-wife describes him as abusive and bipolar. in 2013 he was interviewed by the fbi after making radical comments to a co-worker. the motive of the attack and possible terrorist connections is still under investigation at this point. >> resources are available. other agencies pulled their resources and brought them down. the fbi brought resources to bear from the miami field office, atlanta field office, as well as quantico, virginia, the laboratory sent down shooting reconstructionist. that's the next task at hand. >> the shooter's family told reporters yesterday they believed that the attack was fueled by hate for the lgbt community. pulse night club was a popular spot for people to gather. it was latino night where p

the s.w.a.t. team moved in, the armored vehicle moved in, many first responders. the s.w.a.t. team went inside that house, but there was no violent confrontation at that time. we are told that the alleged suspect surrendered peacefully. one of the most frightening things about this, there were children inside that house, several children. they fortunately, though, are all safe. we t spokeswoman. she says it appears the two victims and the alleged shooter were known to each other. it's not known the exact relationship between the three. like i said, neighbors really shaken by this incident this afternoon. we'll hear from some of them when i join you at 5:00. back to you now in the studio. >>> wh should have been a celebration has turned into a day of mourning for residents in maryland. >> chris gordon has the story from damascus. >> reporter: this section of roadway has gotten so dangerous that montgomery county police are on the scene telling students from clarksburg high school who have come to visit the memorial by the side of the road to be careful while visiting the place w

sometime around 5:00 eastern time, 5:00 in the morning, that is, a s.w.a.t. team was sent. in the decision was made that they had to go in and take out omar mateen. they did just that. nine orlando police officers were involved. one of them injured when he was shot in the head, saved, police say, by the kevlar helmet he was wearing. again, the number now 50, 50 dead in orlando in this now historically awful nightclub shooting. pete, when we spoke a little bit earlier, you said no criminal record as far as we know from omar mateen, but he had been touched on in some way perhaps by authorities, perhaps in the span of another investigation. any more information on that and whether or not he was perhaps known by authorities? >> no more information on that. we're told by a couple federal officials his name was in a watch list or at least someone who had come across the fbi's range of interest three or four years ago, but more because we believe at this point that he was in touch with some other people that were investigate the. in other words, he was sort of on the periphery of p

how soon was the s.w.a.t. team able to assemble there? why didn't they go in before, say, 3:00 where it looks like on the timeline the gunman first mentioned anything about bombs? >> well, like i said, our s.w.a.t. team responded and set up for all situations. part of that, i'm not going to go into all of our tactics, but i will say it takes time to set up explosives and do an explosive entry. those things take time. >> calls from the witnesses inside the club for those three hour, do you talk about the information that they may have given you? >> those calls were very vital and that's how we received the information about the explosives, so very vital to receive that information from people inside of the club. >> do you think the motive would have been anything other than radical islamic terror as you look through things about his life, people in his family, things -- do you have any reason to think that he could have gone in to attack for any reason other than acting as an islamic fighter? >> yes, absolutely. we're actually looking into

and in the process, one member of the nine-person s.w.a.t. team was shot in his helmet. he suffered a minor injury. he is expected to be okay. the photo, though, of the helmet is a dramatic shot. it shows you how close of a call it was for him. and it took about 5 1/2, 6 hours for authorities to clear the inside of pulse. they knew that the suspect had a rifle, an ar-15-style rifle, a handgun and some sort of a device. but they did not know exactly what kind of a device it was or if there were any other devices for several hours. that is why there was such an inconsistent victim count in the beginning. first thing this morning, 7:00, authorities told us there were about 20 people dead. and we now know that's because law enforcement officers, that is all they could see from outside. it wasn't safe to go inside. three hours past, they went in, cleared the spot and then they told us 50. i can tell you that when the casualty count, 50 victims inside, was announced, reporters and photographers gasped. it was a dramatic increase from the earlier figure. we just hope it doesn't

the s.w.a.t. team ended his siege three hours later. a member of that team tells nbc news during the standoff, they were saving lives. >> there were approximately two other places we were able to extract within that three-hour period. we weren't just waiting to make the breach on the wall, we were also pulling people out of other locations in the club. >> reporter: tonight the investigation into the shooter and his wife diving deeper. as a sea of heartbreak floods this community. tonight the coroner's office said they have completed the autopsies on all of the victims. they are still trying to piece together, though, where each of those victims were shot, and whether they died in the initial gunfire, or if they died hours later waiting for help in those bathrooms. lester? >> miguel, this new information raising a lot of questions. one of them, our justice correspondent pete williams broke the news about the gunman's wife this morning. pete, i know you've been talking with your sources. could the wife face charges here if she knew about t

the s.w.a.t. team has been in the dark and in a couple of hours it will be sun-up.tions inside are miserable. here's sergeant ray kelly with the alameda county sheriff's office. >> this suspect has shown that he has -- is willing to stay for the long haul because he's -- the amount of tear gas that's put into that house is tremendous. >> reporter: we just saw here at the keen a s.w.a.t. tank moved in with officers. it looks like a lot of activity. it started at 1:30 p.m. yesterday when police tried to pull over the suspect. he backed his car into the fremont police officer's patrol car and then a gun battle broke out. that officer was shot. the suspect fled and got into another gun battle with another officer a short time later and that detective was shot as well. both of the fremont police officers were taken to the hospital. one was possibly shot in the face. at one point the suspect ran through a safeway near our location now. he got into a house at 41000 block of roberts avenue. that's where he was tracked at midnight. they have been in heated negotiations with

out of the line of fire so to speak. s.w.a.t. team members have converged on the building, i did see them arrive a little while ago. they went into the building. in fact, all of them, a group of six or eight, are inside the building. more are standing by. police negotiators have been talking back and forth with a person in that building. a while ago i heard yelling out of a window. the suspect was yelling profanities. police moved further back out of the sight of the building. let's go to pictures that i tweeted before police -- before -- as police arrived, excuse me. >> this is the picture you tweeted when they were entering the aqua building. here's another you showed of s.w.a.t. teams converging at o an alleyway. you see the store front there. a very populated area. are people evacuated given that it's a densely populated area? >> yes. police have evacuated the buildings around the small alleys and the building units they're now in. a while ago they held a briefing. by the way, it's the 900 block of pacific. police held a briefing.

at 5:00 a.m., the s.w.a.t. team leader threatens to strap explosive vefts on his hostages. >> he did talk about putting vests on some of the hostages. >> reporter: it's a turning point. s.w.a.t. teams move in, using heavy explosives to break holes in the walls of the club. >> the suspect came out of that hole himself, armed with a handgun and a long gun, engaged in a gun battle with officers. >> this video, capturing the barrage of bullets on the night. the killer, dead. an riddled with bullet holes. >> in addition to the 49 people killed, more than 50 other were also injured in that attack. 29 of them are receiving treatment right here at the orlando regional medical center. we do expect to hear from two of those patients and several surgeons later this morning. a handful of patients are being treated at another hospital. all of them listed in fair condition. >> let's get more details from the scene. marci gonzalez joins us live. marci, what's the latest on the investigation so far? >> reporter: good morning, kendi