Our Paris November 2015: 50 people killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Fifty people were killed inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, Orlando Police Chief John Mina and other officials said Sunday morning, just hours after a shooter opened fire in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

At least 53 more people were injured, Mina said. Police have shot and killed the gunman, he told reporters.

The shooter had an assault weapon.

Before Sunday, the deadliest shootings in U.S. history were at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, with 32 and 27 killed.

The three worst, in less than a decade. People think they’re in a movie, and the prize goes to the highest number.

The shooter is not from the Orlando area, Mina said. He has been identified as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, about 120 miles southeast of Orlando, two law enforcement officials tell CNN.

Orlando authorities said they consider the violence an act of domestic terror. The FBI is involved. While investigators are exploring all angles, they “have suggestions the individual has leanings towards (Islamic terrorism), but right now we can’t say definitely,” said Ron Hopper, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Orlando bureau.

Authorities are also looking into the possibility the attack was a hate crime, a law enforcement source told CNN.

You don’t say.

“It’s just shocking,” said Christopher Hansen, who was inside Pulse. He heard gunshots, “just one after another after another. It could have lasted a whole song,” he said.

Hansen was getting a drink at the bar when he “just saw bodies going down,” he said.

When the shots erupted, he hit the ground, crawling on his elbows and knees, before he spotted a man who had been shot.

“I took my bandana off and shoved it in the hole in his back,” Hansen said, adding that he saw another woman who appeared to be shot in the arm.

The nightclub posted on its Facebook page shortly after the violence began: “Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running.”

Like the Bataclan.

Pulse describes itself as “the hottest gay bar” in the heart of Orlando. Hours before the shooting, the club urged party-goers to attend its “Latin flavor” event Saturday night.

Jovial, well-dressed crowds heeded the call in an event that turned into a nightmare.

“It was just, bang, bang, bang!” party-goer Hansen said of the gunfire.

Ricardo Negron Almodovar said he was in the club when the shooting started about 2 a.m. He barely escaped.

“People on the dance floor and bar got down on the floor and some of us who were near the bar and back exit managed to go out through the outdoor area and just ran,” he posted on the club’s Facebook page.

So very like the Bataclan – a festive fun heathen occasion, turned into a slaughterhouse by fanatics with guns.

(I know, we don’t know yet that he was a fanatic. Maybe he was just in a bad mood.)

The sound of gunshots echoed beyond the club.

Jose Torres was clocking in to work at a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street when he heard them.

“It was something that I never heard before,” Torres said. “I had to run inside the store, and I saw just a lot of people screaming, crying. Just screaming and coming out running like crazy.”

Torres said he ducked into the Dunkin’ Donuts and called 911 as several people dashed out of the club, bleeding. Police and SWAT teams rushed to the scene.

Welcome to nightmare world.