Heartbreaking news. Please can we do something . Lets all just get along. This was a sick person that was really confused. And went crazy. Now, his father revealing new details overnight. I couldnt believe that was my son. As a nation and a city search for answers, why was the Gay Community targeted in the virus massacre . This was an act of terror and an act of to hate. Were live with this special edition of good morning america. And good morning, america. Were live in orlando this morning. After a crushing weekend. The world remembering the lives lost in that tragic shooting, the deadliest in u. S. History. Were right across the street from the site of that massacre. Where three hours of terror unfolded. Officers exchanging gunfire with the suspect. And then making a daring rescue. This morning, more than 40 people are recovering at the orlando Regional Medical center. Many of them, though, still in critical condition. Theres heroic work going on right now to save those lives. Heres what we know right now about the shooter. His name is omar mateen. 29 years old. From fort pierce, florida. Born in new york. He pledged allegiance to isis on a 911 call during the shooting. Officials are now just finishing a sweep of his home. They had been there since the shooting began. And there are a lot of Big Questions this morning. Including, how did this man on the fibs radar slip away . He was investigated twice, interviewed three times. Were learning now more about the lives tragically lost in the attack. So many stories emerging about the victims and the heroes. Their families and friends are speaking out and take a look this morning at the Orlando Sentinel sharing this front page, saying our community will heal. And the world is embracing the community this morning. Tributes pouring in from around the globe the pope, queen elizabeth, millions of ordinary citizens sharing their heartbreak. You see the vigils right there, pray for orlando. One of the most powerful images, hundreds of people lining up to donate blood. So many people showed up, they had to turn some away. Everyone wanting to help. We have full Team Coverage this morning, live in orlando and across the country. Abcs gio benitez starts us off and has the very latest for us. Good morning, gio. Reporter amy, george, good morning to you. Overnight, we spoke with a survivor who lived only because he played dead for three hours. That excruciating clock ticking as more and more people were killed. Saturday night, inside this popular orlando nightclub, just after 2 02 a. M. , 15 minutes after last call, the club still packed with 320 people. Im at the club. Reporter abc news obtaining this cell phone video from the brother of a clubgoer. Listen as those first shots ring out over the music. [ gun shots ] people are screaming help me, help me, im trapped. People are getting trampled. We didnt know which door to take or where to go. Reporter at 2 07 a. M. , the club posting this facebook message, everyone get out of pulse and keep running. A Police Officer working security at the pulse fires at the shooter. Now identified as 29yearold omar mateen. Armed with an ar15 rifle and a glock 9 million, mateen retreats further into the club, shooting more people along the way. Just keep crawling. Reporter club patrons now held hostage. Some barricading themselves in bathrooms. At 3 00 a. M. Bomb squads and hazmat crews arrive. Hostage negotiators trying to talk mateen down. The standoff lasting three agonizing hours. Mateen calling 911 to pledge his allegiance to isis. Telling them America Needs to stop bombing isis. Reporter he was calling people on the phone . Yes. Reporter the wounded trapped inside with the gunman. Some even playing dead. You played dead for three hours. Yes. Reporter police detonated a controlled explosive to distract the gunman, the s. W. A. T. Team moving in. Plowing into the club with an Armored Vehicle, then rushing in and taking down the gunman in a barrage of gunfire. [ gunfire ] one officer shot in head, saved only by his helmet. 30 hostages freed. We now have a large mci unit. 250 patients. Reporter eight horrifying hours after the shooting began we have cleared the building. And it is with Great Sadness that i share, we have not 20 but 50 casualties. Reporter this shooting is now the deadliest in u. S. History. May god be with them. God plesz their souls. Its hard. Every gunshot i heard, i was hoping it wouldnt hit any of my friends. Reporter and of course those bullets did hit his friends. In fact, he knows nearly everyone who died. Serving as a mentor to many of them. George this is just one of the lucky voices able to tell his story this morning. Thank goodness for that. Okay, gio, thank you. Im here with ray rivera the deejay at the pulse nightclub the night this cahaos broke out. Thanks for coming in this morning. Lets go back to that moment. You were sort of winding the crowd down. Yeah, bringing the vibe down. Everybody closing out the bar tabs and heading home. So, and then, i heard a couple pops. Did you think it was shots . I thought it sounded like firecrackers. I thought maybe somebody was playing a joke. I turned the volume down again. I turned the volume down again and some more. Followed by some more. You were out on the patio, this was happening in the main room . Yeah. What exactly could you hear . All the gun shots. And it was bursts, and bursts, and bursts of gunshots . Bursts, three, four at a time. People running out, heading towards the exit. You know, trying to get out. I didnt realize what it was until i looked inside and saw everybody running out and at that point, the music was off. I ducked down behind the deejay booth. People hiding there. Running out. There was a little pause, about 15 seconds, at that point, the person under the booth that was with me, i was like, okay, go. You were able to run out to the street . We ran out the exit gate. You never had a chance to see the gunman . No. Could just hear it. And was anyone shot on the not on the patio, no. People were just that was more of the escape route, everybody was heading for that. Jumping the fence. Getting out that way. Were people getting out of the main room where the shooter was . Yeah, yeah, everybody was heading for every exit there was. Theres another side room which security did a great job of getting everybody out of that room before he had chance to get in. Theres a couple of different exits. They got them out that way. And then, basically, once the shots started coming, everybody cleared. And i know you were working hard to help others get out as well. I was trying to. People were just running and falling and hiding underneath the zee jay booth. At that point, i was like this is getting really serious. I thought it was a joke. When there was a little pause and a break, i was like, all right, go. That person took off. I went behind him. Did the police hold you outside for several hours . Oh, yeah. We were down the street for about from 2 00 to about 7 00. Three hours as the hostages were being held. And then the police went back in. Then the shots were fired. The explosion and i guess the car that was there. I bet you cant imagine. You know what . It was one of those things where it was a great night. Same saturday night weve had since ive been doing it. The vibe was great. Then chaos broke loose at 2 00. It went from a great vibe to, you know, one of the worst tragedies right now. Were glad you got out. Ray, thanks for joining us this morning. All right. Thank you. And now to the victims and the heroes. The gunman killing at least 49 and injuring 53. Those people, parents, sons, daughters, loved ones of so many. And in mothose moments of terro so many heroes stepping in to help and save lives. Among the deceased, 23yearold stanley almodova. Luis omar ocasiocapo and kimberly morris. Killed working as a Security Guard at pulse. Juan guerrero and his boyfriend christopher leinonen. Also taken in the massacre. Leinonens mother with an emotional plea on sunday, before finding out he had died. When he was in high school, he started the gay straight alliance, i have been so proud of him for that. Please, lets all just get along. Were on this earth for such a short time. Lets try to get rid of the hatred and the violence. Reporter family and friends receiving heartbreaking messages from their loved ones trapped inside. I got shot. Im bleeding out. I think im dying. I love you guys. Tell mom, dad, emp i love them. Reporter this mother receiving detailed account of her sons last minutes through texts. Eddie justice barricaded in the bathroom. This text reading, hes coming, im going to die. He said he has us, and hes going to kill us. And that was it. Reporter many of the 53 wounded still alive thanks to the quickthinking of strangers. My only instinct was to help everybody else around me. I saw my buddy, juan, who was the bar tender. The first thing i do, i see his wound and i take off my shirt and i tie my shirt around his leg to stop the bleeding. Reporter vigils overnight. You dont believe your brothers dead. No, i dont. I refuse to believe that. Reporter how important is hope to you right now in this moment . Its the only reason why im standing. Reporter we just checked in with him a little while ago, he hasnt heard from his brother, hes devastated but remains hopeful at the same time. We want to turn to one of those heroes from the shooting. Joshua mcgill fled the bar during the attack. He came across bartender rodney sumter. Who had been shot three times. Joshua used his shirt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Thank you for being with us, joshua. Thank you very much for having me. Tell me what the latest is with rodney. I know he has surgery scheduled in just a bit. How is he doing . I checked up on him yesterday. And he seemed to be stable. I wasnt able to see him due to not, you know, he was still in the Emergency Department. But i did get confirmation last night from one of his friends or family relatives that he was stable and that he was doing okay. And that he would be having a surgery this morning at 7 30. So were just standing by to see if im able to meet with him. If not, were just hoping maybe i can see him some time later on today, if not, maybe tomorrow. Joshua, you most certainly saved rodneys life. Walk us through those moments when you were able to escape the bar when the shots rang out. Tell me what happened next. And what you saw. Um, at first, i didnt really know what was going on. It was a typical night, it was very fun. Nothing it was very end of the bar time, they had already did last call. Luckily my roommates and i were near the back patio exit. Which is where the back patio bar is. We left when we heard the initial gun shots. And hopped over the fence eventually. Thats when we ran into the parking lot through the safety zone that was set up at the perimeter from the police. During running through the parking lot, i did hear some gunshots again. And i jumped. And thats when i hid behind a car. My roommates kept going. I yelled for them, dont worry about me. Im fine. Ill hide. Initially when the gunshots got further away thats when i kind of peeked around to make my run for it. Thats when i actually found rodney kind of limping around and he was mumbling he needs help. I went and grabbed him. Brought him behind the car where i was. I told him everythings going to be okay. Im here to help him. He told me he thinks hes been shot. So thats when i noticed he had been shot once in each arm. I took it upon myself to let him know that im going to try to stop the bleeding. I took my shirt off and tied it around his first, initial gunshot wound on his left arm. I took his shirt and tied it around the other gunshot wound. We proceeded to dodge and weave throughout the parking lot. Thats when i noticed he had another gunshot wound on his upper back area. Because thats when he was starting to complain about pain, i just applied as much pressure i could as we walking toward the nearest officer that was on stand by. Once getting to the officer he basically told us to lay low. He did say that there was no ambulance that were going to be arriving on the scene. But they were going to transport us to the Emergency Department via Police Patrol car. The officer said, heres all you need to do is keep him conscious and when you get into the patrol car, well have you lay on your back and youre going to have rodney lay on top of you. And i want you to squeeze his back wound as tight as you can to constrict the blood and keep it to where he doesnt bleed out. During the process riding to the Emergency Department, i could hear the Police Officers in the front seat saying, you know, keep him conscious, talk to him. Thats when i learned his name. I told him my name. Where im from. How old i am. I was asking him the same questions. He told me his name was rodney, 27, from jacksonville, florida, wow. He has a little brother. I told him, stick with me, youre going to be fine, i promise you, everythings going to be okay. Were almost to the Emergency Department. I did, you know, however tell him, im not sure if youre religious or not, were going to say a quick prayer. You prayed with him . I said a prayer for him. Yes, maam. I know that you parade with him and i mean, you were incredible on every level, joshua. Physically helping him. Emotionally helping him. Spiritually helping him. Our thoughts are with rodney as he goes into surgery and with you, joshua. And all the victims there. Thank you so much for joining thus morning, joshua. Thank you. Not a problem. He did exactly what he needed to do. Wow, incredible. Well turn now on what we know about the shooter. Investigators are searching the home for weapons. He had been on the fbis radar for possible links to terrorism. Brian ross, you a revealing interview with his exwife . Thats right. Long before the attack, omar mateen was known as unhinged homophobic, and violent. This was a sick person. That was really confused. And went crazy. Reporter this is omar mateens exwife who told abc news he regularly beat her and was a man full of hatred buried deep. He body was totally opposite. Just angered and emotional and violent. And that later evolved to abuse. Toward me. Reporter as the fbi sought clues as to what triggered the attack on the orlando nightclub, his exwife said he could not stand people who were gay. He would express his anger towards a certain culture, homosexuality, there were definitely moments he would express his intolerance to homosexua homosexuals. Reporter a former coworker said he had problems. He also had a lot of hatred for people. Reporter mateen was an american citizen born in new york, who attended high school in stewart, florida, he worked as a Security Guard for the last nine years, posting this picture of himself wearing an nypd tshirt. He really loved the police department, he worked as a correctional officer or a guard at the juvenile delinquent center. Reporter while his exwife says she knew of know connection to extremism, Officials Say mateen declared his allegiance to isis in a 911 call as he was Holding Hostages at the nightclub. I think this proof of that in the United States. Reporter the fbi had twice investigated mateen for possible ties to terrorism in 2013 and 2014. Interviewing him three times but concluded he was not a threat. We determined that contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or threat at that time. Reporter he remarried a few years ago and had a 3yearold son with his second wife when he carried out the attack. His exwife. Im luckily to have the family i have. Because they saved me from death. Reporter because the fbi investigation into mateen found no links to terrorism, there were no criminal charges. He was able to legally buy the two guns he used in the attack purchased just last week. Amy . So many people just so puzzled by all of this, brian, thank you. Those revelations about the fbi investigation are raising Big Questions this morning. Abcs senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas is here in orlando with more on that side of the story. Good morning, pierre. Reporter amy, this could happen again. You can be on a terrorism watch list and still legally buy a gun. The big question this morning is, why didnt the system blink red when mateen went in to buy those guns because he had been interviewed by the fbi three times. Why werent counterterrorism experts especially notified, especially when the fbi was the one doing the background check. The fbi didnt know what the right hand was doing on the left. Amy . Thank you, pierre. We have so much more coming from orlando on this special edition of good morning america. The shooters father speaking out, what he says may have set off the his son. And president ial candidates donald trump and Hillary Clinton both speaking out on the tragedy live on gma. Didates donald trump and Hillary Clinton both speaking out on the tragedy. Live. Wait. Youre real . Yeah. With discover card, you can talk to a real person in the u. S. Day or night. Plus, were not going to waste your time trying to sell you a bunch of other products you dont really need. That is really nice of you. I feel really bad about shouting at you. Oh, you werent shouting. You were just speaking in all caps. At discover, we treat you like youd treat you. 100 u. S. Based customer service. 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