Pulse nightclub demolished nearly 10 years after massacre left 49 dead

Pulse nightclub was demolished on Wednesday, nearly ten years after a gunman walked into the Orlando gay club and committed one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history.

With at least half a dozen police cars nearby, an orange crane struck the dark gray stone building where 49 people were killed and dozens of others wounded, in what amounted to the second most lethal mass shooting in U.S. history.

In its place, the city of Orlando will construct a memorial to commemorate the people killed in the mass shooting after purchasing the site in 2023.

The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, responsible for the massacre, was killed in a shootout by law enforcement after a three-hour-long siege. Mateen completed the shooting with a handgun and a Sig Sauer MCX, an AR-15-style rifle, weapons that were legally purchased in the week before the attack, according to officials.

Authorities said that during the shooting, the gunman called 911 and pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS, which is known for its intolerance of LGBTQ people. The year before the shooting, the terrorist organization released videos that appeared to show gay men being hurled off buildings and then stoned to death.

Before the attack, Mateen called authorities and told them of his affiliation with ISIS, according to authorities. In 2013, officials said he was also investigated by federal authorities after allegedly making “inflammatory” comments about radical Islamic propaganda. The FBI looked into Mateen again the next year, investigating him as a potential suicide bomber, according to officials.

All investigations into the gunman were closed.

The demolition of the building comes at a precarious time for LGBTQ rights in the United States, particularly for the nation’s transgender community.

Within the first few weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump issued executive orders that prohibit trans people from enlisting and serving in the military, forbid trans girls and women from competing on female sports teams at public schools and block federal funding to hospitals that provide transition-related care to minors.

Last year, a rainbow crosswalk just outside of the nightclub — which was painted to commemorate victims — was painted over by the state, sparking outcry. At the time, state officials said that “roadways are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests.” The crosswalk remained white and gray on Wednesday.

And last month, the Trump administration also removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, largely seen as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, sparking local outrage.

The demolition also comes amid a series of attacks in recent weeks that are being investigated for terrorist affiliation.

On March 7, two teenagers were arrested after throwing explosive devices at an anti-Muslim protest outside the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Authorities described the incident, in which no explosives were detonated, as an ISIS-inspired attack.

Days later, a car rammed into a large Detroit-area synagogue Thursday as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” The driver’s brothers were known to be members of Lebanese Shia terrorist group Hezbollah, a Lebanese official told NBC News. No one other than the attacker died in the incident.

And the FBI said last week that is investigating a shooting at a Virginia college on Thursday that left one victim dead and two injured as an act of terrorism.