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Funeral services begin for Orlando shooting victims

Mourners gather outside the visitation for Pulse nightclub shooting victim Javier Jorge-Reyes Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida (all times local):

8:30 a.m.

A visitation has been held for one of the victims of the massacre at a gay Orlando nightclub, beginning the long procession of rainbow-hued sendoffs.

On Wednesday night, the casket for Javier Jorge-Reyes was taken inside the funeral home. Outside, a crowd of drag queens, motorcyclists and others came to pay their respects.

Ezekiel Davis — or, as he’s known to some, Sister Anesthesia Beaverhausen — was dressed in a nun’s habit. He said: “We’re just here to spread love and joy and try to put an end to all the hate.”

Cora Bath said she was there to support the grieving family in her city. She added: “We’re going to stand united.”

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7:40 a.m.

President Barack Obama wants to offer solace and healing to a distraught community during a visit to Orlando, even as the political world turns the shooting into a fresh excuse to fight about terrorism and gun control.

Obama faces a tragedy whose causes are still murky. Even as the families of 49 victims prepare to bury their dead, it’s unclear exactly what led a 29-year-old Muslim born in New York to open fire in a gay nightclub where some have said he might have been a regular patron.

In Orlando, Obama plans to meet with families of the victims, as well as with the doctors, paramedics and other first responders who came to their aid. He is also expected to speak publicly during his visit.

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7:30 a.m.

Sunday’s mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left at least 49 people dead had Oprah Winfrey asking questions instead of answering them Wednesday night.

Tapping the chest of an Associated Press reporter to emphasize her point, Winfrey inquired: “What will be the number? What number is high enough to get our attention, so that we will say, ‘Enough’?”

Winfrey was on the arrivals line Wednesday night in Los Angeles at the premiere of “Greenleaf.” She produces and acts in the TV drama. It will be broadcast on her OWN network.

She seemed eager to speak about the Orlando massacre.

She says: “One side says ‘Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.’ … But are we a country that really believes that assault weapons should be made available to anybody? Are assault weapons necessary? I just say, ‘Enough.’

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7:30 a.m.

The coordinator for Chicago’s upcoming gay pride parade says organizers will hire dozens more off-duty police officers than they did last year after city officials asked them to beef up security in the wake of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida.

Richard Pfeiffer says 160 off-duty officers and other security professionals will work the parade. Last year there were 70.

Security has been increased in gay communities in Chicago and around the country since a gunman killed 49 people at an Orlando club. Chicago police say they’ll provide additional parade security. Police say there’s been no threat made against the city’s gay community.

FBI spokesman Garrett Croon says in a statement Wednesday that the agency is working with Chicago police in establishing security measures for the pride parade.

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7:30 a.m.

New York City’s police commissioner says there have been a number of threats made against gay bars and nightclubs in the city, but none appear to be credible.

Commissioner William Bratton says Wednesday that the threats were made by “cowards” who came out of the woodwork after Sunday’s shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that killed 49 people.

Bratton says there are no known, credible threats against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in New York.

He says police will thoroughly investigate each of the threats and police treat all of them seriously.

Bratton says there will also be an increased police presence at the city’s gay pride parade on June 26. He predicts this year’s parade will be the largest in the city’s history.

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3 a.m.

In the final hours of his life, Orlando gunman Omar Mateen apparently made a series of Facebook posts in which he raged against the “filthy ways of the west.”

That’s according to a Senate committee.

As the grief-stricken city of Orlando prepares to bury the first of the 49 who perished at the Pulse dance club, a Senate Committee has asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg for help uncovering the trail of hate Mateen left behind in cyberspace.

The call comes as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Orlando on Thursday. On Wednesday, drag queens and motorcyclists paid their respects at a visitation for Javier Jorge-Reyes, beginning the long procession of rainbow-hued sendoffs for Mateen’s victims.

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