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By Felicia Schwartz, Arian Campo-Flores and Ahmed Al Omran 

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said the shooter who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando gay nightclub apparently was self-radicalized and "an example of homegrown extremism."

The president noted the man police have identified as the gunman, Omar S. Mateen, purchased a gun legally and was inspired by extremist information disseminated over the internet. Mr. Mateen pledged allegiance to Islamic State "at the last minute," Mr. Obama said.

He added: "Countering this extremist ideology is increasingly going to be just as important as making sure that we are disrupting more extensive plots engineered from the outside."

Meanwhile, investigators have found that Mr. Mateen previously visited Walt Disney World while searching for targets, according to two officials briefed on the probe. They added they don't believe he examined the amusement park in the hours immediately before the nightclub shooting -- and would not say which Disney World property was scouted.

In his Oval Office remarks, Mr. Obama also urged people considering how to respond to the attacks to avoid an "either/or" debate about terrorism or gun control and instead to consider addressing both.

The rampage has divided the presidential campaign.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump rejected any new effort to limit a U.S. citizen's access to firearms and broadened his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants.

He said, "When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the U.S., Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."

His rival, Hillary Clinton, called for more gun control, including an assault-weapons ban, and denounced "inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric."

James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that while the shooter's specific motives remain murky, "There are strong indications of radicalization by this killer and a potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations."

Mr. Comey said agents are also looking into antigay bigotry as a motive.

The FBI director added he did not believe agents should have done something differently in two previous investigations of Mr. Mateen, during which the agency looked for possible links to terrorism. The probes were closed after interviews with him proved inconclusive, FBI officials said.

Earlier Monday, Saudi Arabian officials said the gunman had visited the kingdom twice on pilgrimages -- in 2011 and 2012.

U.S. and Saudi officials aren't sure yet who Mr. Mateen met with there during his visits or whether the trips were connected to the shooting.

Meanwhile, A. Lee Bentley III, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said that authorities were getting search warrants and court orders to investigate other people who may have been involved in the shooting rampage. He added he didn't believe the public was in danger.

"We do not know yet whether anyone else will be charged in connection with this crime," he said.

While the number of victims killed in the Sunday morning shooting spree had previously been given as 50, Paul Wysopal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation clarified that the total was 49 during a news conference in Orlando Monday. Police said officers shot and killed the Mr. Mateen at about 5 a.m. Sunday.

Many of the survivors wounded in the rampage continued to undergo treatment at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Among the many family members there Sunday night were those of Cory Connell, 21, who is missing and possibly -- the family hoped -- among the injured.

Mr. Connell's girlfriend, Paula Blanco, was shot in the arm and is being treated at the hospital, said Megan Nolan, the fiancée of Mr. Connell's brother Ryan. Ms. Blanco asks where Mr. Connell is, Ms. Nolan said. "We have to keep telling her, unfortunately, 'we don't know,'" she said.

One of the victims was Enrique Rios, a 25-year-old New Yorker and nursing student who was in Orlando on vacation, according to his aunt, Nancy Castillo of St. Petersburg, Fla.

"I'm devastated, and I'm more devastated for my sister," said Ms. Castillo by phone, after visiting an Orlando senior center serving as a gathering place for victims' families. "I can't comprehend the 'why.' Why would you come here and destroy the lives of innocent people? And I'm very angry about that also, because something has to be done with these terrorists."

Mr. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, said Monday that he was "terrifically saddened" by the attack and didn't know his son's motive.

A woman who said she is the ex-wife of Mr. Mateen described him as an "unbalanced" person who was abusive during their marriage. She told CNN that she saw no sign that he had terrorist leanings.

Still, Islamic State on Monday praised the man who carried out the deadliest shooting attack in U.S. history, calling him "one of the soldiers of the Caliphate in America."

During Monday's news conference in Orlando, officials vowed not to be cowed by the violence. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. "We will be defined by how we respond, how we treat each other, and this community has already stepped up to do that."

Pervaiz Shallwani, Devlin Barrett, Kate O'Keeffe, Adam Entous, Cameron McWhirter, Jennifer Levitz, Valerie Bauerlein, Scott Calvert, Tripp Mickle and Ehsanullah Amiri contributed to this article.

Write to Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com, Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com and Ahmed Al Omran at Ahmed.AlOmran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 13, 2016 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)

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