Much of the chaos that unfolded at Pulse is visible in the bodycam footage published by the Sentinel, which captures the desperate effort to rescue survivors and take down Mateen. Many of the victims were Latino the club was celebrating 'Latin Night.' " Police said the toll could have been even greater had a SWAT team not rescued 30 people and shepherded them to safety. Some had their calves and forearms blown off, doctors said. "Victims flooded local hospitals with gunshot wounds to their chests, legs and arms. "Witnesses described scenes of horrific carnage," Washington Post reporters Hayley Tsukayama, Mark Berman and Jerry Markon reported at the time. The shooter - 29-year-old Omar Mateen - held others hostage during a three-hour siege that ended when police stormed the building and killed him.
Some people were able to scramble out a back entrance, but many others were trapped inside. The shooting began when a gunman who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State opened fire inside the crowded gay bar and dance club, mowing down club-goers at random. The paper referred to the footage as "the most complete picture of what happened during the three-hour standoff." The paper noted that none of the people who were killed that night are visible in the redacted footage. The 30 videos offer an intimate window into the Pulse nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016, which left 49 people dead and injured another 53 - making it the deadliest mass shooting in American history. In fact, they come from 15 hours of bodycam footage published by the Orlando Sentinel this week after the paper filed a public records request with the city of Orlando last year. The haphazard scenes - and the wrenching sounds that accompany them - could've been lifted from the climax of a harrowing action movie. "Come out with your hands up or you will die!" a man screams between blasts of gunfire. "I probably got about 20 gunshot victims," another officer can be heard saying. A officer slumps to the ground after a bullet strikes his Kevlar helmet. Hordes of young people pour out of a dimly lit nightclub, panicked and afraid, some carrying injured friends. Police arrive with sirens blasting, grabbing automatic weapons from their cruisers and rushing toward the sound of automatic gunfire.