First Names of Victims in Orlando Nightclub Terrorist Attack Released

Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford wait down the street from a multiple shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. Towns said his brother was in the club at the time. A gunman opened fire at a nightclub in central Florida, and multiple people have been wounded, police said Sunday. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Edward Sotomayor Jr. (Facebook)

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“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident,” Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, said. “We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country.” His father said that religion wasn’t a motivating factor.

“We condemn this monstrous attack and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured. The Muslim community joins our fellow Americans in repudiating anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations Orlando Regional Coordinator (CAIR) Rasha Mubarak said in a statement.

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