Police fired at Orlando club shooter 150 times, reports show
ORLANDO, Fla. — Police fired at Omar Mateen about 150 times during the final shootout at Pulse nightclub, police reports show, but an autopsy revealed just eight bullets struck the man who killed 49 people on June 12 in the nation’s worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Mateen was shot after law enforcement breached a back wall of the club about 5:07 a.m., according to Orlando Police dispatch records.
That was three hours after Mateen fired the first shots in the club.
Police said 13 SWAT members engaged Mateen in gunfire about 5:14 a.m. and reported him “down” at 5:17 a.m.
The toxicology report indicated Mateen was not under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs the night of the shooting.
In a list of personal items on the body, the medical examiner noted finding a gun holster strapped to Mateen’s belt.
Information about the type of guns used to kill Mateen as well as where in the club he died was not included in the report.
The medical examiner’s office released the report on Mateen on Friday, along with autopsy reports for 31 of the 49 victims killed at Pulse.
They show many of the victims were shot multiple times, and one report suggests that a victim may have died after bleeding out.
It has been nearly two months since the shooting. More than 50 other people were injured in the shooting rampage.
Also Friday, the Better Together Fund, created in the aftermath of the massacre to support local nonprofit organizations, issued its first grant — $122,000 to the Heart of Florida United Way.
The money will help up to 150 survivors cover food, rent and transportation costs, said Bob Brown, the charity’s president and CEO.
“A lot of the survivors are young people who are precariously housed and may not have savings accounts to tap,” Brown said. “To this point, we’ve been using our emergency funds to help keep them afloat.”
The fund began after the Central Florida Foundation, which established Better Together, parted ways with OneOrlando Fund — now at $23 million — when OneOrlando organizers decided to give all the money raised directly to families and survivors.
Better Together, now at $826,000, will give strictly to local nonprofits impacted by the tragedy.
Some future grants will reportedly go to agencies providing mental health care.