"We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city," President Barack Obama said. | Getty Obama: 'An act of terror and an act of hate' He says the Orlando massacre is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

President Barack Obama on Sunday declared the worst mass shooting in U.S. history “an act of terror and an act of hate.”

“Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre, of dozens of innocent people,” Obama said, addressing the nation after meeting with FBI Director James Comey and his homeland security and national security advisers. “We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city.


“Although it’s still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate, and as Americans we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people,” he continued.

A man armed with a handgun and an assault rifle rampaged through a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday, killing at least 49 people and leaving more than 50 hospitalized.

Obama said the FBI is leading the investigation in collaboration with local law enforcement and added that he has directed that the full resources of the federal government be made available for the probe.

“We’ve reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer,” Obama said. “The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism, and I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what, if any, inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups.”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was on a trip to China with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson for cybersecurity talks, announced they would return to Washington and that she will take charge of the investigation.

The shooter was identified as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, who died in a gunfight with SWAT officers after initially firing shots into the club and eventually taking hostages. Mateen, of Afghan parentage, was a U.S. citizen living in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Without referring to him by name, Obama said Mateen was “a person filled with hatred,” acknowledging the significance of his attack on a club that the LGBT community frequents.

“This is an especially heartbreaking day for all of our friends, our fellow Americans, who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” the president said. “The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub. It is a place of solidarity and empowerment, where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds and to advocate for their civil rights.”

The massacre is a “sobering reminder,” he continued, that an attack on any American is an attack on every American, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

Obama, speaking to the country in the wake of yet another mass shooting, again called on Congress to act on the subject of guns.

“Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle,” he said. “This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or in a house of worship or a movie theater or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision, as well.”

The president said he conveyed the “deepest condolences of the American people” in a conversation with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

“This could have been any one of our communities, so I told Mayor Dyer that whatever help he and the people of Orlando need, they are going to get it,” he said. “As a country, we will be there for the people of Orlando today, tomorrow and for all the days to come.”

He also thanked police and first responders for rushing to the scene, noting that if not for them the carnage could have been worse. And he implored Americans to say a prayer for the victims and their friends and families: “That God give them strength to bear the unbearable, and that He give us all the strength to be there to them and the strength and courage to change. We need to demonstrate that we are defined more as a country by the way they live their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us.”

“In the face of hate and violence,” he concluded, “we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united as Americans to protect our people and defend our nation and to take action against those who threaten us.”

After his address, which lasted about five minutes, Obama ordered flags to be flown at half-staff “as a mark of respect for the victims of hatred and terror perpetrated on Sunday.”