WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama was undertaking a grim and delicate mission to Orlando, Fla., today, offering solace after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history while the political world bickers over terrorism and gun control.

Even as the families of 49 victims bury their loved ones, it’s unclear what led a 29-year-old Muslim born in New York to open fire in a gay nightclub early Sunday where he may have been a frequent patron.

In earlier instances where Obama has visited a community in mourning, the president has urged the nation to reject the attacker’s ideology and do what it can to prevent such incidents.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama would deal with the ambiguity in the Florida shooting by focusing on the victims.

“The president’s visit to Orlando has nothing to do with the individual who perpetrated this terrible attack,” Earnest said Wednesday. He said Obama intended to tell residents “that they’re not alone, even as they endure what surely have been several dark nights.”

The White House released few details in advance about how Obama would spend his afternoon in Orlando, and aides said the trip had been hurriedly arranged in a fraction of the time usually required to plan a presidential trip. But Obama planned to meet with families of the victims, as well as with the doctors, paramedics and other first responders who came to their aid.

Obama also planned to speak publicly during his visit “to make clear that the country stands with the people of Orlando, stands with the LGBT community in Orlando, as they grieve for their loss,” Earnest said. Vice President Joe Biden was to join Obama in Orlando.

The president’s call for rejecting bigotry against gays and lesbians is complicated by the possibility that the gunman, Omar Mateen, may have been wrestling with his own sexuality.

The FBI has been looking into reports that Mateen frequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay dating apps.