BREAKING NEWS: Alleged Islamic Terrorist Kills 50 in Florida Nightclub

Update:50 Dead After Islamic Terrorist Opens Fire in Florida Nightclub. 

Orlando Police Chief John Mina told reporters early Sunday morning that more than 40 people were injured at Pulse, a gay nightclub in the city.

The "religion of peace" has struck again, this time at an Orlando, Florida night club. Reports say the terrorist was wearing a suicide vest and killed over 20 people in a crowded nightclub packed with over 300 innocent people. It is being characterized as an act of terrorism.

Authorities said the suspect engaged in a shootout with an officer who was working at the club at approximately 2 a.m. before going back into the club and taking hostages. A SWAT team was sent inside the club to rescue the hostages at approximately 5 a.m.

Mina said the suspect, who was killed inside the club during a shootout with police, had an assault-style rifle, a handgun and “some type of device.”

"It appears he was organized and well-prepared," Mina said, adding the shooter is not from the Orlando area.

An agent from the FBI's Orlando field office also said there are “suggestions” that the suspect may have had “leanings” toward radical Islamic ideology.

"We can't say definitively, so we're still running everything to ground," he added. 

Law enforcement sources told CBS News the shooter was Omar Mateen, a U.S. citizen from Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Police said a loud noise near the nightclub was a "controlled explosion" used as a distraction when officers breached the building in an armored vehicle and rescued approximately 30 people.

In a Facebook post, the bar and dance club had urged everyone to "get out of pulse and keep running."

The Orlando Regional Medical Center, located a few miles away, was placed on lockdown and only essential workers were being allowed inside, CNN reported. Arnold Palmer Hospital and Winnie Palmer Hospital were also placed on lockdown out of caution.

President Obama has been briefed on the attack, an aide said in a statement, and ordered federal agencies to provide "any assistance necessary."