Orlando nightclub shooting — mass shooting at gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida
The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time, killing 49 people at an LGBTQ nightclub in a terrorist attack.
Key Facts
- People killed
- 49
- People wounded
- 58
- Perpetrator
- Omar Mateen, age 29
- Venue
- Pulse nightclub, hosting Latin Night
- Duration of standoff
- 3 hours
- Perpetrator's pledge
- Allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Omar Mateen, citing U.S. military interventions in Iraq and Syria, declared allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a 911 call during the attack. He stated the U.S. killing of Abu Waheeb in Iraq the previous month had specifically triggered his actions.
On June 12, 2016, Mateen opened fire inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, during a Latin Night event. He killed 49 people and wounded 58 others before a three-hour standoff ended when Orlando Police fatally shot him.
FBI investigators classified the attack as an act of terrorism. It was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001, and remained the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history until the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, prompting national debates on gun control and LGBTQ safety.