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50 Killed In Mass Shooting At Gay Nightclub

Orlando Police officers direct family members away from a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/PHELAN M. EBENHACK
Orlando Police officers direct family members away from a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/PHELAN M. EBENHACK

Fifty people are dead and dozens more are injured after a gunman shot up a gay club in Orlando, Florida early Sunday morning. The casualty count makes the shooting the deadliest gun massacre by a single gunman in U.S. history, surpassing the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007 that killed 32 people.

In what FBI investigators are calling an act of terrorism, a gunman took people hostage inside the nightclub Pulse around 2 a.m. after getting into a shootout with police.

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“I heard 20, 40, 50 shots,” one clubgoer told the Washington Post. “The music stopped.”

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said more officers rushed the club around 5 a.m. and killed the gunman, who police said had at least one assault rifle and a handgun on him, as well as a possible explosive device. Witnesses say clubgoers started fleeing and carrying injured people out of the building.

Besides those who were killed, fifty-three people were injured.

A nearby shooting Friday night killed 22-year-old singer Christina Grimmie at The Plaza Live in Orlando. Police say the two shootings were not related.

This is a breaking news post that will be updated with more information.