An Orange County Sherriff described the incident as a “domestic terrorist incident”, which was confirmed by the FBI, a spokesman said: “Domestic or international, it’s terrorism”.

The nightclub posted on its Facebook page as the shooting unfolded: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running”.

The incident started at about 2am on Saturday night / Sunday morning. It was confirmed that an officer attended the Pulse club and engaged with a “gun battle” with a shooter who was using an assault rifle and a pistol. “This turned into a hostage situation. Multiple officers from various agencies responded. ” said Police. The authorities then detonated a controlled explosion at the scene, which they described as a “distractionary device”. The gunman was named by officials as Omar Mateen and it was confirmed that he was killed after taking hostages.

The White House released a statement saying: “The President was briefed this morning by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism, on the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims. The President asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials, work with the Orlando Police to gather more information, and directed that the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community.”

Two regulars at the Pulse Nightclub who work together as drag-dancing performers, said they had seen Mateen as many as a dozen times at Pulse, and that he went to the club to escape his home life.

Chris Callen, 34, who goes by the stage name of Kristina McLaughlin, said Mateen began showing up about three years before the attack. “It could be he just went crazy. Maybe he got radicalised and hated who he was.”

Mateen's father Mir Seddique told NBC News that the incident had nothing to do with religion, and may have been triggered by the sight of a gay couple kissing in Miami.

But NBC News reported that Mateen called the emergency services before the attack and swore allegiance to the so-called Islamic State militant group.

There's also now speculation that the gunman's wife knew of attack plans and could be charged. A law enforcement source told Reuters that a federal grand jury had been convened and could charge Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, in the next few days.

“It appears she had some knowledge of what was going on,“ said US Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “She definitely is, I guess you would say, a person of interest right now and appears to be cooperating and can provide us with some important information,“ Mr King told CNN.

Mateen's second wife, Noor Salman, was arrested in January 2017, at her home in Rodeo, California. She was charged in federal court in Orlando with aiding and abetting as well as obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors accused her of knowing that Mateen was planning an attack. Salman's trial took place in March 2018.

In the 5 years since the Orlando Pulse shooting, President Obama and Vice-President Biden left office, to be replaced by a President who did nothing to halt the violence. There have been 11 major incidents since in which 203 people have been killed and over a thousand injured. They include Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Stoneman Douglas High School, Thousand Oaks, Pittsburgh synagogue, Santa Fe High School, El Paso Walmart, Virginia Beach and earlier this year the Congress Building in Washington, Boulder in Colorado and San Jose.

Joe Biden as the USA's current President has pledged to bring in a range of gun control measures but they are being blocked by the very same Republican politicians who deny the uprising of 6 January 2021 in Congress. Those Republicans have also blocked a commission which was going to investigate what happened before and after the deadly home-grown terrorist attack and who was responsible for inciting it.