Orlando club broken into 1 month after deadly mass shooting

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida nightclub where the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history occurred last month was broken into just hours after police released the business back to its owners on Wednesday, Orlando police said.

Burglars used a prying tool to remove plywood that had been screwed to an exterior metal door frame at Pulse, a gay dance club, and forced their way inside, a police report said.

The club’s owners reported the break-in on Thursday morning, police said. The police report did not say whether anything was stolen or disturbed.

Local law enforcement had been guarding the site since the June 12 attack by shooter Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others before he was killed by police after taking hostages during a three-hour standoff.

But the building was transferred back to its owners on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said in an email, meaning police were no longer responsible for guarding it.

The club’s alarm system and interior cameras were not activated at the time of the break-in, police said in their report.

“Since June 12, we have seen the worst and best of human behavior,” club owner Barbara Poma said in a statement through a spokeswoman. “We are disappointed that someone felt compelled to violate the privacy of our beloved Pulse nightclub and the sacred place it has now become.”

The club will remain closed to the public as owners plan for its future, said Poma, who founded it to honor her brother who died of AIDS and to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The massacre took place during a Latin night celebration.

Mateen, 29, a U.S. citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrant parents, claimed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State militant group in a phone call with authorities during his rampage.

U.S. authorities believe that Mateen, who lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, with his wife and young child, was self-radicalized and acted alone without assistance or orders from abroad.

FUNDS FOR VICTIMS, FAMILIES

The families of the victims slain at the Pulse nightclub will get the most money from a fund established to help the victims’ families and survivors of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, according to a proposal released Thursday.

The fund has about $20 million. The exact amount each family will get is to be determined by how much is raised by the end of September.

“The final amount will be determined once we have a better sense of how much money there is, the nature of the injuries and how many people will come into the fund,” said Camille Biros, the fund’s deputy administrator.

The OneOrlando Fund protocol was released Thursday by Kenneth Feinberg, the fund’s administrator, who also has played a similar role for funds given to victims of the 9/11 attacks, the BP oil spill and Boston Marathon bombing. Final guidelines won’t be made until after two “town hall” meetings in early August when Feinberg will outline the plan to family members, survivors and members of the public. He also will take comments and suggestions from the public.

“This is all a first draft and could be changed by public input,” Biros said.

The proposal creates four classes for distributing the funds: families of deceased victims, people hospitalized for more than one night, people injured but not needing overnight hospitalization and patrons who were not hurt. Among the category of patrons hospitalized for more than one night, their numbers will be broken down by the number of nights they spent at a hospital.

“It’s not a perfect science but it will be a proxy to determine the seriousness of the injuries and be able to differentiate between those who spent two nights and those who spent three weeks or more in a hospital,” Biros said.

For those who weren’t injured, payments will be made only to patrons who were inside the club, not outside.