has been a crime scene with law enforcement looking on the sidewalks left and right for bullet casings everywhere. you can see the authorities still there and command and control vehicles trying to find out what they can inside that nightclub. as that happens we're getting brand new details about the gunman who went in there guns blazing at the pulse. we learned just a short time ago that authorities do not believe that there is a direct link to isis. they do not believe he tried to communicate with isis. they do believe that he tried to buy military grade body armor just weeks before he went into that nightclub, but for some reason he was not sold that body armor. again, investigators have found no evidence of direct contact with isis though obviously he did pledge his loyalty to isis during the attack. we also now know that the gunman traveled to saudi arabia twice. the saudi interior ministry says he visited in 2011, also 2012, also new this morning, the death toll has been revised to 49. he killed 49 people, wounded more than 50. a full one-third of the people inside that building were wounded or killed by this one gunman, this horrific ordeal that lasted three hours and ended when a s.w.a.t. team smashed into the building killing the gunman in a shootout. >> they're shooting back and forth. look at this. oh, my god. they're all shooting back and forth. >> the orlando police chief detailed the final minutes of the standoff. >> we used our armored vehicle, the bear cat armored vehicle, to purve punch a hole in that wall. we were able to rescue dozens and dozens of people that came out of that hole. the suspect came out of that hole himself armed with a handgun and a long gun, engaged in a gun battle with officers where he was ultimately killed. >> all right. we have a number of new developments this morning in the investigation. just over the last few minutes. joining me now cnn's boris sanchez who has been here since the gunfight itself and national security correspondent jim sciutto. jim, it is your reporting, despite the fact that this gunman called 911 and pledged allegiance to isis, as of now no known contact between the shooter and isis. >> that's right. a u.s. official with knowledge of the investigation says no communication with -- contact with isis central commanders or known operatives overseas. but as you know with isis, you don't need that, right? because one of their weapons, and we've seen that in paris, that was a directed, coordinated attack, they were dispatched by isis central into europe, but you have other attacks that were pure lone woflf, self radicalization attacks which were just as dngedz aangerous a be just as deadly but harder to catch because you don't have those contacts that you can surveil to prevent something like this from happening. isis is able to direct and also inspire from afar. >> absolutely. to be clear, just because there was no known contact, it doesn't make it deadly and dangerous. in fact, it is a goal of isis for this to happen. >> they said -- their spokesman said during the holy month of ramadan which we're in right now, it's a time of fasting, encouraging supporters around the world to carry out attacks in any way that they can. >> two known trips to saudi arabia. >> that's right. this is also new information. we know he traveled to saudi arabia in 2011, 2012, for what's known as the umra, the lesser of the two muslim pilgrimages. the hajj is the big one. regardless, it's a religious pilgrimage to saudi arabia and during that trip he went through the united arab emirates, dubai. officials don't know of any contacts during those trips with bad actors in saudi arabia. doesn't mean they might not find out about those at a later date but to this point they don't. that travel is interesting. it's a line of inquiry, but it doesn't yet tell us something that was functional to this attack. >> boris, we're also getting new information over what happened for the three hours of the standoff right behind us at this nightclub. >> there's been a lot of questions about what happened exactly during the standoff. officials this morning confirm it wasn't just that off-duty police officer that was outside the club that went in when shots were fired. there was also a contingent of additional police officers that went in shortly after, and they essentially forced the shooter to retreat into a bathroom. we saw a lot of text messages between family members. one of them specifically mentioning being in a restroom and fearing for their lives. police mention that the situation was stabilized after the gunman reportedly mentioned some kind of explosive device. all day yesterday the atf was here scanning for explosive devices partly because they believe he had something on him that may have gone off. from what we understand there was some indication from police, it may have been the call to 911 saying that he was pledging allegiance to isis, that something tipped them off there was going to be an imnent loss of life and that's when they decided to move in. they took that bear claw armored vehicle and put it through the wall of the bathroom where they saw dozens of people coming out, fleeing for their lives. one of them happened to be the gunman. he exchanged fire with them and that's when they took him down. >> boris sanchez, jim sciutto, great reporting. i will let you get back to the streets to find out what you can. appreciate it. >> thanks. we have also new details about the gunman's activities in the weeks before the shooting. cnn has learned that omar mateen tried to buy military-grade body armor recently. just a short time ago we heard from mateen's father. he said he is sorry and upset about what happened, and he claims he doesn't know why his son did it. >> as a father it's painful, but i don't approve. again, i repeat myself that what he did was act of terrorist, and it's against my principle, against what i taught him. i wanted him to get more education to serve the community. >> all right. i'm joined by cnn justice correspondent evan perez. evan, you broke the news about this body armor, military grade. exactly what's going on mere? >> reporter: well, john, we know investigators have now learned that the shooter attempted to buy this body armor from a local store in recent weeks, about a month ago. now, the store wasn't able to sell him what's known as level three body armor. it turns out because they didn't carry it. but the attempt suggests to investigators mateen may have been plotting this attack for some time according to law enforcement officials i have spoken to. this type of body armor is higher grade than even the kind that most police departments issue to their officers. in fact, it's a kind that some militaries use. now, again, the store apparently just didn't carry it. we know that he worked as a security guard and nothing in his background prevented him from buying the firearms that he was able to buy in the weeks before the shooting. and, john, we're also learning that mateen attended a mosque, the same mosque that another terrorist who carried out a suicide bombing in syria attended, and his name is mohammed abu saleh, and he attended occasionally apparently the services at this ft. pierce islamic center according to a spokesman for the mosque. back in 2014, the fbi looked into possible ties between mateen and abu saleh. they decided that there just wasn't much of a connection there, john. >> that was one of the point of contacts the fbi had with mateen. they questioned him about his relationship, but at the time decided it was not significant. evan perez, again, with the news that omar mateen tried to buy military grade body armor within the last few weeks. let's go to kate in new york. >> john, we'll get right back to you in a moment. 49 people are dead. 53 others wounded after the shootout -- the shootings early sunday. of those 53, 43 remain in the hospital. 6 of them are undergoing surgery today we are told. cnn's richard blackwell is outside the orlando regional medical center with much more on this. victor, what are you hearing the state of those wounded? what injuries they sustained and how it's looking for them right now, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, kate, it is an urgent situation here at the hospital. we've learned from officials through a tweet that there were surgeries late into the evening and several of the survivors are undergoing surgery right now. and with so many people inundating the hospital system at once, there was a massive call for blood donations, and this community responded en masse. let's look at some of the people we saw in lines. 5,300 donations of blood in one day, a record we're told by oneblood, the system that's collecting those donations. people stood in line for five hours or more, and we know that they were working overnight until maybe 4:00 in the morning processing those donations and sending them off for testing. many of those people are back in line today. the people who could not get in to make those donations yesterday. we spoke with one of them. her name is carrie gray. watch. >> it's love. this is orlando. this is what we always do. we come together regardless of the situation, and it's just what we do. and as an american, you do more. so after this i'll probably go for a couple hours. >> reporter: again, the lines are growing for people who want to donate blood, but there is some frustration because the fda prohibits collecting donations from gay men who have been sexually active within the last 12 months. however, this facility is on an old computer system, so they're using the old fda regulations that lifetime ban for sexually active gay men over the last 40 years. so, again, some frustration here, but i can tell you that the system is working nearly around the clock trying to process those donations. they say it's about a two-day span from donation to getting it to the hospitals available for transfusion. we know that the hospital not only working to take care of those victims, those survivors we're calling them, but also the nearly 200 family members who have been coming here to check on those loved ones. the hospital also saying that they are working to collect the latest on their conditions and to give that information as soon as they get their handle around those 43 patients who are still here. kate? >> the pressure on that hospital system still great right now. just a reminder to our viewers, 43 people are still in hospitals. victor was just telling us many of them, several of them in surgery today. we're going to continue to follow those developments on those injuries and those wounded and bring them to you as we get them. let's get back to john in orlando. >> thanks, kate. as many as six operations going on today for those inside the hospital. we will watch that. no doubt that the pulse nightclub was targeted because it is a high-profile gay bar. whatever the motive of the shooter, that much is certain. i'm joined now by orlando city commissioner patty sheehan and g.l.a.d. ceo sara ellis. not only are you a city official in orlando, you're also part of the gay community here in orlando. a community that i believe has to feel targeted this morning. >> it's the heart of my district and, of course, yes, many people in the community are just horrified by this violence that's happened in our community. we've never had something of this scale before, and it's just a horrible day in orlando. but i'm really encouraged by the number of blood donations. the community coming together and just the outpouring of love and support internationally. >> you know, i have been told by many it's a gay-friendly city. it's a pop. >> very much so. we're 100% on the human rights index. our mayor is wonderful, a wonderful ally in the gay community. we've passed discriminations and public accommodation, housing, employment. we had the first gay marriage ceremony in florida on the steps of city hall. we're a welcoming community. >> when you're dealing with 350 people inside that club on saturday night, i have to believe almost everyone in this community knows someone or knows of someone who was inside those doors when the terror broke out. >> yeah. i just talked to a couple of people who were waiting for word from their friends and they're just heart broken. they're showing pictures of their friends and it was just awful. i can't imagine what they must be going through. >> sara, as president of g.l.a.d., you have dealt with a lot but nothing quite like this. >> nothing quite like this. this is heartbreaking for the community, not just here in orlando but absolutely here but abroad and in this country as well. from coast to coast and country to country. >> you know, and i think it's important for people to know, pulse is a gay nightclub, one of three or four in the city i have been told that are very well known, but this is the kind of place you go to feel safe. not safe from attacks like this but safe because there are other people there you feel comfortable with, people like you, and for many people in the gay community going to a gay bar is the way they can feel safe. >> yeah. a gay bar and a nightclub are so much more than just that. they're a place where we come together as a community, and they've been a safe haven for decades, and they've been a place where as a community we've organized. i mean, stonewall 1969 is one great point where we came together at stonewall and organized a gay liberation movement. so i think it's really important, a sense of security has been taken away. we will fight harder and we will fight longer, and we'll do what we need to do, but they really -- that was an attack on our heart and soul. >> it was an attack on america's heart and soul, not limited to any one community. >> agreed. >> sarah, patty, thank you for being with us. and we're here right along beside you. >> thank you. we do have breaking new details about the gunman's activities in the weeks before the shooting, including how the killer tried to buy that military-grade body armor. that's coming up. plus, abusive and unstable. chilling new details about his past, his possible mental state. the shooter's ex-wife says that she was held hostage by him from her own family. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? 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family had to rescue her from the marriage but omar mateen's brother-in-law responding to that interview that you just saw there tells cnn he didn't see anything related to mental illness in his brother-in-law. let's talk more about the investigation into this man. david katz is here as well as b bob baer. gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. as always, under the worst of circumstances we're discussing this. some of the information we're getting out, evan perez is doing some great reporting saying that he in recent weeks tried to go get military grade body armor and that the store for some reason that we don't know yet -- >> the store didn't have it in stock. >> is that what you're hearing? it w . >> go on ebay, you will buy it unrestricted. >> our reporting is that they refused to sell it to him. >> the reporting i have heard is they refused to sell it to him because they didn't have it in stock. most security companies selling those products are going to have at best level 3a body armor. they don't typically keep the hard armor plates in stock. it's more for military application or s.w.a.t. teams. this suggests the guy knew that he'd be going to take this action, that the responding officers would be around with high-powered rifle and he needed something above soft body armor. he wanted the hard plates our guys overseas would be using. so that's why he wanted them, but he couldn't get them because typically it's not something you'd sell to the civilian market. >> that's what i was going to ask you, the fact he's even looking for it and seeking it out, what does that tell you about the level of planning and how this man was expecting this to play out. >> oh, a couple things. we can almost be certain he was ready to die. the fact that he was buying ceramic armor intended to -- he was going to fight it out with the police and there was no way he was going to come out of there. number two, he carried a long gun into a crowded club. he had a handgun for close in. he had a perch somewhere in that club where he couldn't be grabbed -- >> why do you think that? why do you think he cased it? just the sheer number he was able to injure? >> the number of people, killing 49, wounding 30-some. it was a crowded club. you just don't go in with a long gun ever, ever because people will grab it. you have to keep that away from you. this is why assaulters will have on their side they have small guns like an mp-7. he went in with an ar-15. he had to stand back. he had to keep people away. clearly had cased this place and was prepared to do this. and by the way, i really don't care what the families say about a shooter. it's always crazy stories, fathers, mothers, wives. i just look at this guy. he goes to saudi arabia. he comes back. he sets preparations for an assault, for mass murder, and then carries it out and then takes the police on. and apparently with an early shooting too. so the guy was ready. >> he called 911 from inside the bathroom. you don't hear terrorists calling 911, and they also then had some level of negotiating with the police. the police chief said something that really struck me at one point during a press conference. he said he wasn't asking for a whole lot. we were doing most of the asking. that was really striking to me to hear that. >> there's a lot of the story that's yet to be reported. apparently he shot his way into the club. he tenentered it already shooti. we have these details where you can hire security who is a police officer in uniform. paying for them as a security guard. so apparently he shot his way into the club but what's striking is you mentioned the long gun. really easy to take that away from somebody. you can't swing a long gun in a tight, confined area. you have that many people being attacked at the same time, no one is throwing beer bottles at him, chairs? i don't care who is the guy is, if a mass of people rush you, you are off your feet. look at the night before when christina grimmie was killed. one shot, the brother took the guy right off his feet. >> then what does that tell you was so unusual about this circumstance? >> probably had a lot of alcohol going on. you dull your reflexes. complete surprise. but, you know, it's important for people to understand that you have three options in an active shooter operation. the best one is to avoid, run, get out. the second if you can get yourself into a place where you can barricade and at least have some impediment -- >> that's why folks wentd to the bathroom, hid in the dressing room. >> third option, kill the guy. go for the guy because either your life is going to end at his discretion. you either have to act or accept, and the fbi has done 160 studies of active shooter incidents. in 13% of those unarmed civilians have taken the guy off his feet and ended it. so that's -- i don't know why that didn't happen here. maybe he was in a perch. >> stick with me real quick. do we have the new video you want me to go to, guys? no. okay. we're going to continue this conversation. we'll have new video coming in. we're expecting to maybe hear from president obama shortly. we'll get to that when that comes in. thank you so much for being with me. coming up for us, the gunman's father says he never saw any red flags but he also said what his son did was an act of terrorism. we have breaking details in this investigation ahead. also, we're remembering the victims of this horrific attack. about a third of the people in the club were shot. the people that were trapped, there were many that were trapped inside, some in bathrooms, some in the dressing rooms. the frantic calls for help. we'll be right back. i'm terrible at golf. he is. but i'd like to keep being terrible at golf for as long as i can. new patented ensure enlive has hmb plus 20 grams of protein to help rebuild muscle. for the strength and energy to do what you love. new ensure enlive. always be you. once i left the hospital after a dvt blood clot. 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right. that's awful. you can hear the shots ring out at the end there. amanda, 25 years old, was snapchating that to a friend who captured it on facebook. amanda did not survive. she's one of the 49 people who died inside the pulse nightclub behind me. that's first time we have heard the actual sounds of gunshots from the shooter as he first went in to the building there. all right. also we're waiting to hear from president obama. president obama just a short time ago was briefed by his intelligence team with the very latest on what's going on in the investigation. we will get video from that in just a moment. until then, i want to bring in our national security analyst juliette kayyem and law enforcement an analyst, art roderick. the president is about to speak to us. i know what he said. what the president said, no known direct contacts between isis and this man. however, they believe he was a ho homegrown terrorist inspired by international terror. that's what this has all been leading to. >> exactly right, and that matters. there's a big difference, not to the victims, of course, or their families but there's a big difference in terms of an investigation between isis directed, there's some person in syria or iraq training people to come to the u.s. or sort of telling them, dreshthing them what to do and someone who is alone in the room or has mental illness and radicalizing and going out and doing a tragedy or horror like this. it means who are you going to investigate? where is the path going to lead you? who else might know? so i think this is going to be a domestic investigation for the most part and there will probably be other arrests. there's no question in my mind that some people will be arrested because of knowledge or complicity in this. >> who else will be arrested. if no one else was part of the attack or the planning, how will they be culpable. >> they may be part of the planning. we don't know that yet. fbi has been doing a search warrant at his residence. that information i'm sure will come out of there. if he had a playstation 4, if he had some type of gaming console, there could be communication on that also. so i think they'll get to the bottom if he did have any help and if there was a conspiracy. >> they're tracing the guns right now. right now three guns, two used inside, a handgun and a long gun, an ar-15 rifle. also a revolver found in his car. what we know is this guy had no problem buying guns because he was a security guard, worked for a security company. >> actually made it easier. >> let's listen to the president right now. >> are we all set? okay. i just had the opportunity to get the latest briefing from fbi director comey as well as deputy attorney general yates and the rest of my national security team about the tragedy that took place in orlando. they're going to be doing a more extensive briefing around noon, a little bit after noon over at fbi headquarters, so i will allow them to go into all the details, but i thought it was important for you to hear directly from me. first of all, our hearts go out to the families of those who have been killed, our prayers go no those who have been wounded. this is a devastating attack on all americans. it is one that is particularly painful for the people of orlando, but i think we all recognize that this could have happened anywhere in this country, and we feel enormous solidarity and grief on behalf of the families that have been affected. the fact that it took place at a club frequented by the lgbt community i think is also relevant. we're still looking at all the motivations of the killer, but it's a reminder that regardless of race, religion, faith, or sexual orientation, we're all americans, and we need to be looking after each other and protecting each other at all times in the face of this kind of terrible act. with respect to the killer, there's been a lot of reporting that's been done. it's important to emphasize that we're still at the preliminary stages of the investigation, and there's a lot more that we have to learn. the one thing that we can say is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. it appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet. all those materials are currently being searched, exploited, so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making a decision to launch this attack. as director comey i think will indicate, at this stage we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally. it does appear that at the last minute he announced allegiance to isil, but there's no evidence so far that he was, in fact, directed. also at this stage there's no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot. in that sense it appears to be similar to what we saw in san bernardino, but we don't yet know, and this is part of what is going to be important in terms of the investigation. as far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time. it also appears he was able to obtain these weapons legally because he did not have a criminal record that in some ways would prohibit him from purchasing these weapons. it appear that is one of those weapons he was able to just carry out of the store, an assault rifle. a handgun, a glock, which had a lot of clips in it he was apparently required to wait for three days under florida law. but it does indicate the degree to which it was not difficult for him to obtain these kinds of weapons. director comey will discuss the fact that there had been some investigation of him in the past that was triggered, but as director comey i think will indicate, the fbi followed the procedures that they were supposed to and did a proper job. at the end of the day, this is something that we are going to have to grapple with, making sure that even as we go after isil and other extremist organizations overseas, even as we hit their leadership, even as we go after their infrastructure, even as we take key personnel off the field, even as we disrupt external plots, that one of the biggest challenges we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversions of islam that you see generated on the internet and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals or weak individuals and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the united states and elsewhere in the world that are tragic. and so countering this extremist ideolontifology is increasingly to be just as important as making sure that we are disrupting more extensive plots engineered from the outside. we are also going to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country, and this is something obviously i have talked about for a very long time. you know, my concern is that we start getting into a debate, as has happened in the past, which is an either/or debate, and the suggestion is either we think about something as terrorism as we ignore the problems with easy access to firearms or it's all about firearms and we ignore the role, the very real roale, that organizations like isil have in generating extremist vows in this country. it's not an either/or. it's a both/and. we have to go after these terrorism organizations and hit hem hard. we have to counter extremism, but we also have to make sure it's not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them, and, you know, my hope is that over the next days and weeks that we are being sober about how we approach this problem, that we let the facts get determined by our investigators, but we also do some reflection in terms of how we can best tackle what is going to be a very challenging problem not just here in this country but around the world. again, my final point is just to extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who were affected and to send our prayers to those who are surviving and are in hospitals right now, their family members hoping that they get better very soon. but in the meantime, you can anticipate some time around noon that director comey and a deputy attorney general yates will provide you with a more full briefing about this. okay. [ inaudible ]. >> i think we don't yet know the motivations, but here is what we do know is organizations like isil or organizes like al qaeda or those who have perverted islam and created these radical, nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups that they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes towards sexuality. now, we also know these are organizations that think it's fine to take captive women and enslave them and rape them. so, you know, there clearly are connections between the attitudes of an organization like this and their attitudes towards tolerance and pluralism and a belief that all people are treated equally regardless of sexual orientation. that is something threatening to them. women being empowered is threatening to them. so, yes, i'm sure we will find that there are connections regardless of the particular motivations of this killer, there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians, and unfortunately that is -- that's something that the lgbt community is subject to not just by isil but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of god around the world. >> what are your thoughts about the fact that a lot of these incidents over these years -- [ inaudible ] there has not been any move to reform gun control in this country? >> april, i think you know what i think about it. the fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement, for example, even to get -- to get alerted that somebody who they are watching has purchased a gun, and if they do get alerted, sometimes it's hard for them to stop them from getting a gun, is crazy. it's a problem. and we have to i think do some soul searching, but, again, the danger here is that then it ends up being the usual political debate and the nra and the gun control folks say that, oh, obama doesn't want to talk about terrorism, and if you talk about terrorism, then people say why aren't you looking at issues of gun control? the point is that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time, and how easy it is for them to obtain weapons is in some cases going to make a difference as to whether they're able to carry out attacks like this or not. and we make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly, and that's a problem. it's a problem regardless of their motivations. it's a problem for a young man who can walk into a church in south carolina and murder nine people who offered to pray with him. it's a problem, you know, when an angry young man on a college campus decides to shoot people because he feels disrespected. it's certainly a problem when we have organizations like isil or al qaeda who are actively trying to promote violence and are doing so very effectively over the internet because we know that at some point they're going to be out of 300 million people, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing, and if that happens and that person can get a weapon, that's a problem. >> thank you, everyone. thank you, guys. >> thank you, guys. you can just see president obama there speaking rather extensively after his intelligence briefing in the morning. he said the attacks here at the pulse nightclub were homegrown extremism inspired by ex trtrei information disseminated over the internet but there is no evidence, he says, of a larger plot. he also spent a great deal of that impromptu news conference talking about guns and the availability of guns to people who would commit acts of terror. joined by art and juliette. juliette, the president was quite passionate. >> and good for him. we have a tendency to look at motivation only. how do you stop a terrorist? how do you stop any violence? you get some motivation and you get to the means. we tend to focus on motivation. was he directed by isis? was he inspired by isis? and we don't talk about the means, and so i think maybe because he only has a year left, we can't forget that access to weapons that can kill 50 people just down the street is part of what makes terrorism successful. so it's not to deny that motivation is important and we need to work to counter violent extremism but that we also have to address the means. i think he said don't go down one lane or the other. that it's both. gee said y >> he said -- >> i'm in counterterrorism. the -- it's an important message whether it's kids on a school campus or a nightclub. >> these are discussions that will bed in the co head in the weeks to come. coming up, the moment the shooter came in and opened fire. that's after the break. (vo) whatever your perfect temperature... you'll enjoy consistent comfort with the heating and air conditioning systems homeowners rank number one. american standard heating and air conditioning. a higher standard of comfort. real is touching a ray. amazing is moving like one. real is making new friends. amazing is getting this close. real is an animal rescue. amazing is over twenty-seven thousand of them. there is only one place where real and amazing live. seaworld. real. amazing high potency probiotic, life feels a little lighter, livelier, a little more u. ultimate flora probiotics. john berman live in orlando, just down the street from the pulse nightclub where a little more than 24 hours ago 49 people were murdered killed by a gunman who walked in and opened fire. just a few minutes ago we got video, snap chat video being sent out by someone on the dance floor. you can hear the shots ring out. watch. >> i'm at the club. ♪ brrkt g-- [ gunfire ] >> that's awful video to see. amanda alvear who took that video did not survive. 25 years old. our thoughts are with her family today. with us, a resident who lives down the street of the pulse nightclub. you saw in unfold. when did you first know saturday night into sunday something was wrong? i woke up at 2:00 to the sound of gunshots. i originally thought it was a couple of cars backfiring. there is usually a lot of commotion and things going on. i went out and i saw people fleeing. i figured it was some guy in an argument grabbed a gun and made the shot. four seconds after that, everything erupted. those shots we just heard here, 60 rounds. and everybody was fleeing. through my yard. into my garage. and others went back towards the club recognizing their friends weren't with them and shouting their names looking for them. >> went back to get people out. what happens during the intervening hours. >> as soon as the real shots rang out, i have two young daughters. i went inside to make sure they were secured. my back balcony overlooks the overflow valet. that's where everything was triaged. they were going through every car. checking out people who were injured, determining who may be a threat and so forth. it was that, tactic the nooiz noise. they had -- their battering ram was positioned in that parking lot as well. ultimately it moved across the street behind the back wall of the club. at one point, i think it was getting close to 5:00 they punched through. and then we heard the debt nation. it literally shook my town home. after that ended, i actually went out on the balcony and filmed, you know, the team as they moved forward. and i think you guys have seen that with the volley of shots from s.w.a.t. >> david ward sh we are glad you and your kids are okay. you live across from pulse. we know this is a tough day for you as well. thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. we heard from president obama just moments ago. the president calling the orlando shooting a devastating attack on all americans. he says it's being treated as a terrorist investigation calling it homegrown extremism. the tragedy, the investigation, they have now become a big focus for the candidates hoping to replace president obama to become the next president of the united states. donald trump and hillary clinton weighing in and facing off over the orlando shooting. listen here to both of them on cnn this morning. >> the first thing you need is you need a president that's going to mention the problem. and he won't even mention what the problem is. and unless you go into mention -- unless you are going to say it's radical islamic terrorism, and hate, unless you are going to say that christine you are never going to say that. and hillary clinton refuses to use the words. >> from my perspective it matters what we do rather than what we say. i have clearly said we face terrorist enemies who use islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. whether you call it radical jihadism, radical islamism, i think they mean the same thing, i'm happy to say either. >> let's bring in dana bash. this is something we have heard very often. kind of a prime criticism that republicans have against president obama. donald trump is levying it against hillary clinton. you need to define your enemy first before you can defeat it. hillary clinton, she's -- she said it. she said radical islamism. says she has no problem saying it. how significant is that? >> significant in that this has been as you said a huge rhetorical and political club that republicans across the board have been used. and they think quite successful -- they have been using quite successful rather against the president and then painting it more broadly against dmts democrats and now hillary clinton. by kind of taking that off the table, it does rob donald trump, and now her opponent going into the fall of that sort of rhetorical jab. but it also -- it's not just rhetoric. i mean, the reason why republicans have thought it was so successful is because it conotes weakness, they think. that if you are not willing to call it what it is, which is radical islamism, and radical islamic terrorism, you can't define the problem, how are you going to fight the problem? so that's why this is sort of a pivot point for hillary clinton. especially since, kate, this was something that she went out of her way not to say during the democratic primaries, during a debate with cbs. i was looking back at the transcript. she was asked point blank about using that term. and she danced around it. as did bernie sanders, by the way. so this is a change and one that i think shows that on a presidential level the clinton campaign and democrats i talked to here in washington think that national security could be a plus for them and they are going to aggressively go after donald trump on national security. that's usually not something we see on the presidential level from the democrats. >> one thing we have definitely seen in the aftermath of this mass car is two wildly different responses from these two candidates. >> yeah. >> they have changed their schedules kind of dramatically. we're going to be hearing from both of the candidates speaking and making big speeches today on the issue in the aftermath of orlando. this sets up to be a really crucial day, i think. >> absolutely, it does. this is, unfortunately, the way we see a lot of the ebb and flow of political campaigns and of the national narrative that when something happens at home, then it's obviously front and center. it makes national security much more front and center in voters' minds. obviously, this is on the level that we haven't seen since 9/11 because it is so devastating just in terms of the sheer numbers of people who were killed, who were massacred. but this is one of those test moments. and if people the campaigns on both sides feel that people are paying attention and they feel understandably afraid of what happened at home because there is homegrown terrorism as the president just said, that how each of them frames the argument now and portrays themselves is absolutely crucial going forward to november. >> absolutely. we're going to be hearing from hillary clinton speaking in cleveland around 12:30 today. donald trump making a speech in new hampshire 2:30 today. important moments -- an important moment for the nation, but as we look at these two candidates who want to be the next president of the united states who would be the voice in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy like this, important words coming up. coming up, john berman in orlando, myself here in new york thank you for joining us. our special news coverage of the orlando massacre continues right now. hello to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm ashleigh banfield. welcome to legal view. my colleague chris cuomo joining us live from orlando right now as we follow the breaking news of the terror attack and deadliest mass shooting in united states history. within the past few minutes, cnn brought in the first video of the orlando rampage as it happened. a young woman named amanda alvaer was snap chatting when

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