Orlando Police Release More Bodycam Footage Of Pulse Shooting
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ORLANDO (CBSMiami) – As we approach the one year anniversary of the massacre in Orlando, police have released 15 hours of bodycam footage from that night.
There are more than 30 clips, in which you see officers rushing to help. You also see the chaos they endured. The footage has been redacted so that you do not see any of those shot. We never see the gunman, Omar Mateen, either.
As the call came in on June 12, officers could not get to the Pulse nightclub fast enough.
The bodycam video showed Orlando officers hitting nearly 100 mph in their cruisers.
Footage also showed deputies digging into their trunks for high powered rifles, running while loading them.
They then carefully approached something none of them had ever seen – a terrorist attack.
"Shooter pledges his allegiance to the Islamic State. Won't give us any more information at this time," an officer said.
Officers arrived to find victims hiding in the parking lot. One deputy approached a woman under a car.
"Ma'am come on out," the deputy told her, as gunfire is heard in the background.
"But they are still shooting," the woman responded.
More than 300 people were inside the club at the time of the shooting, and the victims poured out as officers got closer.
"Hands up! Anybody injured?" the officers yelled.
Officers pressed forward, trying to get into the nightclub.
They requested shields to block the bullets, but the gunman's weapon went right through them.
Officers pushed through a shattered window.
Mateen was holed up in a bathroom with hostages.
Officers spotted him and confronted him.
In between gunfire, an officer yelled to Mateen, "Let me see your hands, now! Let me see them!"
Police have said they opened fire but missed him.
"Come out with your hands up or you will die," a deputy barked at him.
The intense situation became even worse as time went on.
"Caller is advising he's reloading in the bathroom," someone said.
You could even hear some officers saying prayers.
"Lord Jesus, watch over me."
Mixed reports were coming in. Was there more than one gunman?
"Two shooters, guys," an officer said.
"Maybe one on the office, one in the bathroom," discussed the officers.
As police held their positions, Mateen dialed police and the news, pledging allegiance to ISIS. He also threatened to set off explosives.
"We are getting a report that someone in one of the bathrooms may have an explosive device strapped to him. Just so you guys know in the building, you may not want to stay there," an officer said.
SWAT team members eventually replaced the officers in the club.
Three hours after it started, an armored vehicle moved in and Mateen came out shooting. He was killed in a hail of bullets, ending the standoff.
Mateen had killed 49 people and injured 53.
Orlando police also released footage taken at Orlando Regional Hospital, where they thought a second gunman was on the loose.
The footage showed officers running and searching hallways, but they only found victims from the attack.
