‘He’s in here with us’: Mother Shares Last Text Messages From Son in Orlando Shooting

Family members wait for word from police after arriving down the street from a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Another woman said her son was in the bathroom with several other men.

“When they went to the bathroom they heard about 20 shots and then they recognized it as being a shooter,” another woman, who was not identified, told 6ABC about her son. “They took off running and while they were waiting outside the club, they saw one who was my son’s boyfriend, they saw him being transported into an ambulance with multiple gunshots. But my son hasn’t been heard from.”

A photo of Omar Mateen, who stormed into a nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, June 12, and opened fire, killing at least 50, and injuring more than 50 others. (Facebook)

Authorities are now investigating the attack on the Florida dance hall as an act of terrorism. At least 53 people were sent to the hospital, and most are in critical condition, officials said. A surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center said the death toll will likely increase.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the gunman used an assault rifle to kill all the victims. “There’s blood everywhere,” Dyer said.

The shooter was identified as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man from Port St. Lucie, Florida, according to officials, including Florida U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson. Born in New York, Mateen’s parents are both from Afghanistan.

READ MORE

• 50 Dead in Florida Nightclub Shooting, Worst in US History

“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident,” Mateen’s dad, Mir Seddique, told NBC News. “We are in shock like the whole country.” He added that religion was not a motive for the shooting.

FBI agent Ron Hopper, meanwhile, said that Mateen may have had a connection to radical Islamic terrorist organizations. Officials, he added, had “suggestions that individual has leanings towards that.”

Citing U.S. law enforcement officials, The Washington Post reported that Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, or ISIS, before the attack. They said he apparently made a 911 call before the attack, pledging himself to the leader of ISIS, also known as ISIL. He also made a reference to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing during the call.

“It appears he was organized and well-prepared,” Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a press conference.

“This is an incident … that we certainly classify as a domestic terror incident,” Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings told reporters.

Visit here for full coverage of the Orlando mass shooting.