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‘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

Posted on 06/22/2016 3:07:33 AM PDT by Enterprise

ORLANDO — After an initial burst of fire between Omar Mateen and a security guard at the Pulse nightclub, a group of five or six police officers arrived on the scene within minutes, broke through a large glass window and entered the club as the killing of 49 people was underway inside, according to a Belle Isle, Fla., police officer who was among the first responders.

Officer Brandon Cornwell, 25, said the ad-hoc team spent the first seconds in the dimly lit club “trying to locate exactly where the shooter was — we kept hearing people scream and shots fired.”

He and the other officers followed the sounds to the bathroom area, where Mateen was now holed up. But instead of entering the bathroom, the officers aimed their assault rifles toward the area and were told by commanders to hold their position as the sounds of gunfire stopped, according to Cornwell. And so they waited “15 or 20 minutes — could’ve been longer” — until the SWAT team arrived, he said. Cornwell never saw Mateen.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: banglist; death; lgbt; massacre; orlandoterrorattack; orlandotimeline; shooting
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To: shelterguy

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.


21 posted on 06/22/2016 5:10:01 AM PDT by E.Allen
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To: wastoute

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


22 posted on 06/22/2016 5:22:59 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (Apparently, most people are fine with what Obama is doing, while he ignores our problems.)
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To: E.Allen
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

23 posted on 06/22/2016 5:24:44 AM PDT by rdcbn ("If what has happened here is not treason, it is its first cousin." Zell Milleraereh)
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To: finnsheep
And you won't.
24 posted on 06/22/2016 5:35:12 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common any more.)
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To: finnsheep
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:


25 posted on 06/22/2016 5:45:05 AM PDT by wtd
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To: Enterprise

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.


26 posted on 06/22/2016 5:49:44 AM PDT by stockpirate (Make America Mexico Again - MAMA end sarcasm)
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To: Enterprise

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.


27 posted on 06/22/2016 5:52:10 AM PDT by DNME (The only solution to a BAD GUY with a gun is a GOOD GUY with a gun.)
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

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


28 posted on 06/22/2016 6:21:18 AM PDT by PLMerite (Compromise is Surrender: The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: PLMerite

Agreed.


29 posted on 06/22/2016 6:22:38 AM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: Enterprise

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


30 posted on 06/22/2016 6:22:42 AM PDT by ßuddaßudd (>> F U B O << "What the hell kind of country is this if I can only hate a man if he's white?")
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights
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.

31 posted on 06/22/2016 6:29:52 AM PDT by bubbacluck (America 180)
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To: wrench

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.


32 posted on 06/22/2016 6:31:06 AM PDT by PLMerite (Compromise is Surrender: The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: Enterprise

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.


33 posted on 06/22/2016 6:31:16 AM PDT by oscar_diggs
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

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


34 posted on 06/22/2016 6:40:26 AM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: PLMerite

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.


35 posted on 06/22/2016 6:40:38 AM PDT by wrench
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

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.


36 posted on 06/22/2016 6:43:15 AM PDT by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

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.


37 posted on 06/22/2016 6:44:23 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: wastoute

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


38 posted on 06/22/2016 6:46:22 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: oscar_diggs

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.


39 posted on 06/22/2016 6:47:23 AM PDT by PLMerite (Compromise is Surrender: The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: smokingfrog

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


40 posted on 06/22/2016 6:49:18 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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