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Mourners Gather In Orlando Following Massacre At Gay Nightclub

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

A timeline is now coming together for what unfolded inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub over three terrifying hours yesterday. We're going to learn more about what happened and what's known so far about the man behind the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Now all of that is ahead over the next several minutes. And we have a team of reporters in Orlando, including our co-host, Ari Shapiro. And Ari, I understand you're in downtown Orlando.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: I am downtown. And you might be able to hear the news helicopters above me, which has been a frequent sound since I arrived here reporting on this story.

CORNISH: You know, we've been reporting all day that this is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. It's something we're all going to be hearing again and again. But I know you've been thinking about basically how this tragedy can't be characterized so easily. What have you observed?

SHAPIRO: Well, it is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, which looks at it through the lens of gun violence. It's also the worst terrorist attack since 9/11, which looks at this through the lens of terrorism. You can look at it through the lens of LGBT issues. This was an attack on a gay nightclub. You can look at it through the lens of ethnic identity. This was Latin night. Many of the victims were Hispanic.

And because of that, it becomes really complicated to tell this story in a way that is comprehensive and that incorporates all of those different aspects of it. So those are all angles that we're going to be looking at in the coming days as we try to tell the story of what happened here, who carried it out and who was affected by it.

CORNISH: We'll hear more from Ari elsewhere in the program. Ari, thanks so much.

SHAPIRO: Of course, you're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.

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