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The man responsible for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history was about to kill more people at the Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday morning, according to the Orlando police chief.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina, in a Monday morning press conference, revealed that 29-year-old suspect Omar Mateen wanted to kill more people, describing the efforts that law enforcement officials made to try and extract people from inside the nightclub.
“We had an extra off-duty officer working for Pulse nightclub in full police uniform at about [2 a.m.] and he responded to shots fired,” Mina stated, “and he did engage in a gun battle with the suspect” near the Pulse entrance.
“The suspect was shooting when more officers arrived and he shot at them. He retreated to the bathroom and had several hostages,” he said in the conference, according to a video feed of the conference. During negotiations, Mina said Mateen was calm in a conversation with cops.
Mina said Mateen made references to bombs and talked about ISIS, the Islamic State.
At some point, Mina said that, based on the situation and information from hostages, a “further loss of life was imminent,” forcing authorities to move.
Mina then directed police to break open the wall of the nightclub via an “explosive breach,” which didn’t fully penetrate the wall. An armored vehicle was then deployed to “punch a hole in the wall.”
