Speaking during a press conference with Orlando law enforcement, Islamic Society of Central Florida Imam Muhammad Musri described the attack at Pulse Orlando nightclub as a “mass shooting” and suggested action should be taken to stop such shootings.
CNN reports the name of the suspected gunman is Omar Saddiqui Mateen. Law enforcement identified him as the man who killed 50, wounded 53–and perhaps more–in the attack carried out early Sunday morning.
Fox News aired video of Imam Musri addressing the attack. He said:
The situation is completely under control. There are no other shooters… I want to also caution many in the media from rushing to judgment and from sensationalizing the story because we do not want this story to be shifted from the focus where it is. It is a horrible tragedy, we are mourning, we are sad, we are heartbroken and it is not time for any sensational news and rushing to judgment.
Musri went on to thank law enforcement and city leaders, then described the attack as a “mass shooting.” He said “we are sorry that it happened to us.”
He added:
We don’t wish this on anybody else and we hope this would be the last of the mass shootings that our country has been going through. I think as a nation we need to look at this issue of mass shootings because we just had one too many today. I think we should do something about it to stop the mass shootings that are happening all the time.
Social media users quickly pointed out a video of Musri saying the United States was to blame for Islamic radicalization which led to the 9/11/2001 terror attack.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.