‘I grabbed my assault rifle and ran’: An officer’s account of the critical early minutes in Orlando

www.washingtonpost.com ^ | June 21, 2016 | Stephanie McCrummen and Abigail Hauslohner

[E.Allen]

In L.E.O. community they are normally referred to as “Patrol Rifles” Most commonly an AR variant, usually semi-auto, but could be oddballs like an SKS (usually a budgetary choice)or an M1 Carbine. Is occasionally an AK type.

[The_Media_never_lie]

This is why concealed carry is a must. An armed guard is a designated target.

[rdcbn]

I have never heard a LEO refer to his rifle as an ‘assault rifle’.

The term is always duty rifle, duty gun, patrol rifle or gun, or by name such as AR, AR-15 , HK, MP5, FAL, FN, or just plan gun, rifle or shotgun

[Cobra64]

And you won't.

[wtd]

finnsheep wrote: "By now assuming all the autopsies are complete, we should know what bullets were recovered from the casualties - - how many actually were 223 cartridges and how many were from the terrorist’s hand gun. I have not seen any mention of that yet."

*****

103 people are reportedly shot by self-identified ISIS supporter, Omar Mateen who was characterized by one media report as:

• ABCNews: "a skilled shooter"

  when the total number of rounds exchanged between Omar Mateen AND law enforcement is recorded as:

• WFTV: "202 Rounds Fired during Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting Sunday"

  Channel 9 found out that 202 rounds were fired during the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting Sunday, a law enforcement source said. That includes the gun battle between Omar Mateen and law enforcement, the source said.

  Is it reasonable to question the ratio (202 rounds/103 victims of gunshot wounds) given the total number of rounds - including the rounds exchanged between Mateen and law enforcement - and the fact that some of the victims were reportedly shot multiple times:

• ABC: Orlando Shooter Was a Skilled Marksman Who Had Trouble in School

• Quote: "Unfortunately, I was shot three times in my leg, so I fell down".

• Quote: "Miguel Leiva was shot multiple times." "Nearly two dozen victims are still hospitalized. One of them is Angel Colon, who was shot six times and was one of the last people to get out.

  Authorities have not said yet if

• WaPo: "any of those killed or injured at the club were wounded when police officers fired at Omar Mateen"

• TampaBayNews: "...The medical examiner, Dr. Joshua Stephany, said the autopsies did not make any determination as to who killed whom...."

[stockpirate]

This event, if it even happened which I doubt was around 2:20 AM, they didn’t kill the shooter until 3 hours later when he came outside and fired on police.

[DNME]

Sounds to me like they had the rat cornered in the bathroom, then pulled back when SWAT arrived in tactical gear. So far so good.

Then how did SWAT manage to let this thing fester for several more hours, if I’m reading the timeline right? The initial responders, from this account, did everything right.

[PLMerite]

I hope what he meant was that the autopsy itself does not establish guilt, it only collects evidence.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Agreed.

[ßuddaßudd]

BS. this incident stinks more and more each day..

[bubbacluck]

Have any details been released which tells us where all victims (both injured and murdered) standing when struck by bullets? In the club itself vs the bathroom, specifically.

I thought I had read that there were thirty trapped in two bathrooms with the killer and that all but one had been killed. This was a very early report so may not be accurate.

[PLMerite]

200 rounds is 7 30-round AR-15 magazines, which is nothing, or 14 or 15 9mm mags, also not difficult if the act is premeditated. In a packed room where there is no specific target, and no one is shooting back, it’s not surprising.

[oscar_diggs]

The SWAT boys needed their fun too ,, and they certainly needed the overtime for waiting around for 3 hours formulating a plan (to attack an already cornered assailant??) while wounded people bled out 2 blocks from the best trauma center in my city.

[Fantasywriter]

I read in multiple sources that 30 people were killed in the bathroom. A large group that couldn’t make it outside took refuge there. When the police entered, Mateen retreated to the same bathroom. If what I read is correct, there were 31 hostages in there already. Mateen shot them all, and one survived.

That was an early report, and I haven’t seen exact confirmation. The below quote appears to corroborate it, however. At the time of the reference to “approximately 30 hostages,” the police were inside the club, and the only remaining hostages were in the bathroom.

‘Several explosives and an armoured vehicle were used to break through a wall of the nightclub and rescue approximately 30 hostages. The suspect was shot by a police officer during this intervention.’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/12/orlando-shooting-nightclub-pulse-gunman

[wrench]

No way those 100+ GSW victims are the result of 200 shots fired. The cops did as much damage as the shooter. We will never be told the truth on this one. Lynch has already been caught lying about and changing the transcript on the conversations with the murderer.

[Delta 21]

Yeah, there are just too darned many bullet holes to be really concerned with who fired each one and exactly who killed who.

We dont have to re-adjust our narrative this way, and it will just save a lot of embarrassment later on in the case.

[smokingfrog]

I don’t know of any regular LEOs that have full auto rifles. Not even sure if SWAT have or use them as a general rule.

[smokingfrog]

I haven’t heard much about the armed guard that was at the club, who he was or what happened to him.

[PLMerite]

If he was hiding in the bathroom with hostages, they should have been able to clear the rest of the club of wounded. And if the shooting had stopped, it would have been foolish to blindly storm his hideout(?) possibly causing him to shoot more people, or detonate some unknown explosive device.

[wastoute]

I recall reading a couple days ago he did engage the shooter but lost the gunfight.