Orlando mourned the 49 people slaughtered in the attack on a gay nightclub, as the White House and the FBI portrayed the killer Monday as an apparent "homegrown extremist" who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic organizations.
The last of the bodies were removed from the nightclub late Sunday, and vigils and makeshift memorials to the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history began to take shape as counterterrorism authorities delved into gunman Omar Mateen's background and defended their handling of their previous contacts with him.
Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, opened fire at the crowded Pulse Orlando club early Sunday. He was killed in a gun battle with a SWAT team after police used explosives and a small armoured vehicle to punch a hole in a wall and allow dozens of club-goers to escape, police said.