Future Words of Yesterday: Issue #7 (#wattys2016)

Global News

On June 12, 2016, a tragedy shook the country. Known as the deadliest mass shooting within the LGBT community, as well as the deadliest with a single mass shooter, Global News brings you the topic for July: the Orlando Shooting. The shooting took over fifty lives, and injured fifty-three at an Orlando, Florida nightclub called, "Pulse".

On June 11, a gay nightclub known as "Pulse" hosted a Latin Night, around 2:00AM June 12 the night was coming to a close with last drinks when the perpetrator behind the attack, Omar Mateen arrived. Mateen was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, and a pistol during this attack when he took hostages at the club.

In the beginning of the attack, over one hundred police officers were dispatched to the nightclub.

As the hour went by, many patrons either called relatives and friends, or 911 to warn and call for help. Mateen himself made multiple calls to 911, and the local news station, to confess that he was the shooter. He also confessed that he devoted the attack to the perpetrators of the Boston Bombing, and to the terrorist group, ISIS. During three hours of negotiations, eight hostages escaped miraculously, while Mateen threatened to use four hostages as bombs.

At the end of the three hours, a SWAT team successful stopped and killed Mateen.

The Perpetrator

The perpetrator was Omar Mateen, a twenty-nine year old and born in America. He was raised by Afghanistan parents and raised as a Muslim. He failed in career at law enforcement as he attempted to be a prison guard for the Florida Department of Corrections, as well as a Florida State Trooper in 2011, and police officer in 2015. In his personal life, Mateen had an unsuccessful first marriage, when his first wife left him after four months due to his mental instability and physical abuse. At the time of the shooting, he had a second wife and a son.

Mateen had an active gun license, and had no signs of any official psychological issues, however he was known for have anger issues when he spoke to others about 'killing people' and 'bringing a gun to school'. Around 2013-2014, Mateen become a 'person of interest' of the FBI for having connections to al-Queda.

In the years later, Mateen's sexual orientation had become a subject of wide speculation, because Mateen was seen as a regular customer of the 'Pulse' nightclub. Although highly suspected of having a lover, the FBI has found little to none in evidence that suggests that Mateen was closeted.

Why this is 'Global News'

While this attack was in America, the 'message' that the perpetrator was trying to say had reactions from countries all around the world. Many, if not all of the countries that reacted to the attack had provided their condolences for the victims and condemned the incident.

***Global News***

FWOY Magazine and Global News extends our condolences to the victims and families of the Orlando Shooting. No man, woman, or child should have to go through an attack due to their sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and/or gender.

- Article written by

SeliaMai