Orlando nightclub shooter dead, police say scene a 'mass casualty situation'

• A mass shooting has occurred at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida
• The incident took place at Pulse nightclub, a local gay bar
• Deadliest mass shooting in US history
• Shooting began around 2am local time
• Orlando police confirm the shooter is dead
• 50 people killed - 53 more hospitalised
• Father of shooter says it's nothing to do with religion

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Florida Gov. Rick Scott is calling the shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub "heartwrenching" and says people who went into the building knowing there was an active shooter are heroic.

He spoke Sunday afternoon at a news conference, hours after 50 people were killed. Officials have said 53 more are hospitalised.

Scott urged people to donate blood. He says officials are doing everything they can.

He says: "This is clearly an act of terrorism. It's sickening. It should make every American angry."

Officials have said they're investigating whether the incident was an act of terrorism.

The father of the man named as the shooter in a massacre at a gay Florida nightclub says he's in shock and that he wasn't aware of anything his son might have been planning.

Mir Seddique is the father of Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Seddique told NBC News that his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting.

Seddique says: "We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. ... We are in shock like the whole country."

The father also says the incident has nothing to do with religion.

Officials say the shooter was among the 50 killed, and that they're investigating whether the incident was an act of terrorism.

Many are still awaiting word on whether their loved ones are among the 50 killed and 53 hospitalized in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

- NZ Herald