An estimated 50 people were killed at a gay nightclub after a heavily armed gunman seized hostages early Sunday, prompting a police SWAT team to storm the venue, officials said.<\/p>\n
CBS News<\/em> named the shooter as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and lives in Port StLucie, Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately there are people who died from gunshot wounds, maybe around 20, inside the night club,\u201d FBI special agent Ron Harper told a media briefing.<\/p>\n The gunman has been identified as an citizen of Afghan descent, US television networks reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n Quoting law enforcement sources, CBS News named the shooter as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and lives in Port St Lucie, Florida.<\/p>\n The network reported that Mateen \u2014 who died in a shootout with police after the hostage siege \u2014 has no apparent criminal history and that authorities are investigating whether he had ties to Islamic extremism. Police have yet to officially identify the gunman.<\/p>\n Mateen — who died in a shootout with police after the hostage siege — has no apparent criminal history and that authorities are investigating whether he had ties to Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n Mateen was armed with an \u201cassault-type\u201d rifle, a handgun and a \u201csuspicious device,\u201d authorities said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An estimated 50 people were killed at a gay nightclub after a heavily armed gunman seized hostages early<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"\n