New Years Eve is a world wide holiday that is celebrated with revelry and joy, but that celebration was cut short inside a night club in Istanbul, Turkey around 1:15 a.m. when a shooter appeared dressed as Santa Clause opened fire on a police officer who was guarding the front gate at the Reina nightclub. From there, he gained access to a club and then began going on a killing rampage.
“He entered the club and attacked innocent people who were there to celebrate the new year. It was a cruel, cold-blooded act.”
The gunman started his reign of terror outside of the club by opening fire on the passing vehicles and the few party-goers that were hanging around the front entrance.
The final body count was reported at 39 dead and 69 injured. Twenty-one of the dead have been identified. Of those, 16 were foreign nationals and five were Turkish. It is believed that at least one gunman is on the run — it is unclear how many attackers were actually present, but all video footage shows only one assailant so far.
Although no group has taken claim of this shooting, officials are calling this an outright terror attack, as they should be. The Turkish Interior minister Suleyman Soylu stated, “We are face to face with a terror attack.”
H/T [ CNN ]
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