Adele Gets Emotional Speaking Out About Orlando Shooting
Adele got emotional during a concert in Belgium on Sunday when she began talking about the shooting in Orlando.
“I would like to start tonight by dedicating this entire show to everybody in Orlando and at Pulse nightclub last night,” she said at the concert, according to the New York Daily News. “The LGBTQ community, they’re like my soulmates since I was really young so I’m very moved by it.”
Adele cried while talking about the shooting in Orlando, according to Mashable, and she told the crowd to dance with her while she performed the song “Rumor Has It.” She said it was a song that at least sounds happy, rather than her other songs that sound “miserable.”
The shooting occurred early Sunday morning in a gay nightclub in Orlando called Pulse. Omar Mateen, the shooter, was carrying a pistol and an assault rifle, according to CNN. Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI twice before the shooting occurred, but he was not seen as a serious threat. He was killed by police officers after the shooting.
Mateen called 911 while the attack was taking place to pledge his allegiance to ISIS. The terrorist group has also taken credit for the attack. The shooting killed 49 people and injured 53, making it the worst mass shooting in American history. It has also been labeled as the worst terrorist attack since 9/11.
According to a website associated with ISIS, “the armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida and that bore more than a 100 killed and wounded was carried out by an Islamic state fighter.”
During his call with the 911 operator, Mateen also praised the Boston Marathon bombers, according to the New York Times. Saudi Arabian officials have stated the Mateen had made two trips to the country for a religious pilgrimage. His wife has revealed he was physically abusive, and his father has stated he did not know Mateen was planning on carrying out the attack.
Orlando police released a list of the victims of the shooting on Sunday evening, and some have claimed that doing so revealed the sexual identity of many people who had not revealed it to their relatives, according to USA Today.
Officials have claimed Mateen attempted to purchase body armor in the weeks before the shooting, but he was not able to do so. Mateen was employed as a security guard with a company called G4S Secure Solutions, and he allegedly wanted to become a police officer, according to CBS.
Mateen was born in New York, and his family is from Afghanistan. He spoke English and Farsi, and he was not a very social person. His first wife left him for being abusive and claimed he was probably mentally unstable. He had a son with his second wife.
Since the shooting, presidential candidates have weighed in on how the country should respond. Hillary Clinton called for further gun control measures, and Donald Trump has called for banning Muslims from entering the country. “Although the pause is temporary, we must find out what is going on,” Trump said at a New Hampshire event on Monday, according to Time. “We have to do it. It will be lifted, this ban, when as a nation we’re in a position to properly and perfectly screen these people coming into our country. They’re pouring in and we don’t know what we’re doing.”
[Photo by Garreth Cattermole/Getty Images]
