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The White House says President Barack Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay respects to the victims of Sunday's nightclub shooting and to stand in solidarity with the community.
The White House did not provide more details about the trip. Obama had canceled what was to be his first campaign event with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the wake of the shooting at a gay nightclub that killed 49 and wounded dozens more. That event was scheduled for Wednesday.
Obama has called the shooting an act of terrorism and an act of hate. He notes that the site of the shooting was more than a nightclub. He says it's a place where people came to raise awareness, speak their minds and advocate for their civil rights.
In the meantime, a regular at the club that became the scene of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history say they saw the gunman there drinking on several occasions before the massacre.
Ty Smith told The Orlando Sentinel that he had seen 29-year-old Omar Mateen at the gay bar, Pulse. Smith says Mateen would sit and drink by himself, getting loud and belligerent.
Smith says he did not talk to Mateen much, but that Mateen mentioned having a wife and child.
The security company that employed the Orlando nightclub gunman says it has no record of a co-worker's complaints that the shooter was angry, profane and threatened violence.
The company, G4S, says in a statement Monday that it has no record of any complaint by Daniel Gilroy against Omar Mateen. Mateen died in a gun battle with police after a mass shooting that left 49 people.
Gilroy told The New York Times that Mateen started badgering him and sending dozens of text messages to him daily, and that he reported Mateen's behavior to his bosses.
However, G4S says Gilroy told company officials in June 2015, shortly after he left the firm, that his co-workers were "good men and women that put in an honest day's work and genuinely like to work as a team and contribute."
Vigil in support of the victims and their relatives
Thousands of people gathered in downtown Orlando for a vigil to support the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Many in the crowd Monday evening say they were inspired to attend because Pulse played a huge role in their lives as gays and lesbians.
Cathleen Daus, now 36 says, "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time." She worked at Pulse in her twenties. "Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else."
The vigil was held on the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center, the area's main performing arts venue. It's also the location of a makeshift memorial, where folks have been leaving flowers, candles and notes for the victims.
