Orlando shooter had been removed from his job as a courthouse security guard
Ken J. Mascara, the sheriff of St. Lucie County in Florida, said Thursday that the man who carried out the massacre at an Orlando nightclub was removed from his job as a security guard at the county’s courthouse in 2013 after he made inflammatory comments about women, Jews and the mass shooting at Ft. Hood.
Here is Mascara’s statement:
“Omar Mateen was one of multiple contracted security guards that rotated through the St. Lucie County Courthouse as part of a contract with G4S Secure Solutions USA Inc.
“In early 2013, our staff was made aware of inflammatory comments made by Mateen. Our courthouse supervisor first requested that G4S management transfer him out of the courthouse rotation permanently. That was immediately granted. Our agency then made the appropriate notifications to inform our federal partners. It was at this time that the FBI began an investigation into Mateen that was later deemed inconclusive.”
Obama on gun violence
The motives of this killer may have been different than mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown, but the instruments of death were so similar.
— President Obama
‘Most of all, there is love,’ Obama says in mourning Orlando victims
Orlando’s response to the Pulse shooting massacre is a reminder “of what is good” about America, President Obama said in an emotional tribute to the victims Thursday.
After hours-long meetings with their families and survivors of the deadly attack, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden traveled to a makeshift memorial to leave bouquets of 49 white roses -- one for each life lost -- among the other flowers, balloons and photos that have collected there.
In brief remarks to reporters after, Obama said those lost “showed us what is best about humanity.”
“It will carry us through this atrocity and other challenges,” he said as a light rain began to fall. “Out of this darkest of moments, that gives us hope.”
Though the city was “shaken by an evil, hateful act,” the president added, “most of all, there is love.”
Obama: Notion that being armed would have saved Orlando victims ‘defies common sense’
In Orlando, Fla., President Obama referred to Donald Trump’s recent claim that more lives could have been saved at Pulse if more patrons were armed themselves. Such a notion “defies common sense,” he said, without naming Trump.
Obama said he was pleased the Senate would hold votes on gun safety measures, one day after Democrats waged a filibuster to force the issue.
Earlier, Obama met with the owners and staff of the Pulse nightclub, a place, he said, to “be who you truly are.” The attack, an “act of hate,” was an opportunity for Americans to reflect on how we treat one another, Obama said.
“Hatred toward people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a a betrayal of what’s best in us,” he said.
Obama: ‘Lone wolves’ require different approach
Obama said the nation would continue to be relentless in its fight against terrorist networks like Al Qaeda and Islamic State. But he noted that attacks in Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino were perpetrated not by sophisticated cells but so-called lone wolves, requiring a different approach.
“We can’t anticipate or catch every single deranged person who may wish to do harm,” he said. “But we can do something about the damage they do.”
As he embraced the victims’ families, Obama said they pleaded for him to do more.
“They don’t care about the politics, and neither do I,” he said.
Mateen’s ex-wife: When he was angry, he would ‘continuously make gay comments’
Sen. John McCain: Obama ‘directly responsible’ for Orlando shooting
Republican Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that President Obama is “directly responsible” for the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla,, because Obama has allowed the growth of Islamic State group on his watch.
McCain — who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election — made the comment to reporters while Obama was in Orlando visiting with the families of those killed in Sunday’s attack and some of the survivors.
“Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, Al Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama’s failures, utter failures, by pulling everybody out of Iraq,” a visibly angry McCain told reporters in the Capitol as the Senate debated a spending bill.
“So the responsibility for it lies with President Barack Obama and his failed policies,” McCain said.
However, McCain later sought to clarify his comments, saying over Twitter: “To clarify, I was referring to Pres Obama’s national security decisions that have led to rise of #ISIL, not to the President himself.”
— Associated Press
This post was updated to reflect McCain’s clarification of his earlier remarks. The original post was published at 12:06 p.m.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson also meets with victims’ families
Medical examiner kept gunman’s body separate from victims’
The medical examiner who oversaw the autopsies of the 49 victims in the Pulse nightclub shooting says he kept their bodies separated from the gunman’s body.
Dr. Joshua Stephany said in a statement Thursday that the remains of gunman Omar Mateen were being held in a building separate from the victims.
He also says the gunman’s autopsy was conducted in a separate building from the victims’.
Stephany says he decided to do that not because of any requirement but because he thought it was the right thing to do.
The medical examiner says his staff was able to identify and conduct autopsies on the all victims within 72 hours after Sunday morning’s shooting.
— Associated Press
Obama arrives at the Amway Center
An Orlando cop’s gesture of solidarity with the city’s Puerto Rican community
Nearly half of those killed in the Pulse nightclub massacre had ties to Puerto Rico.
CIA director predicts more terrorist attacks like those in Orlando, Brussels and Paris
CIA Director John Brennan warned Thursday that as Islamic State loses ground in Syria and Iraq, it probably will use “guerrilla tactics” to launch more terrorist attacks like those in Orlando, Fla., Brussels and Paris.
The CIA has seen “no sign” that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, was in contact with Islamic State or any other terrorist group, Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Like the married couple who killed 14 people on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, Mateen appears to have been self-radicalized online, in part by listening to jihadist sermons and watching videos of beheadings by militants.
Islamic State inspiring ‘DIY terror’
Islamic State supporters “have accounted for 67 homegrown violent jihadist plots” in the United States between 2014 and early June 2016, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, although only a handful were carried out.
The plots, in which Americans either joined terrorist organizations abroad or committed violent attacks at home or overseas, involved more than 100 individuals, the 18-page report said.
A total of 13 homegrown attacks were carried out in the United States since 2001, the CRS found, five of which involved people inspired by the Islamic State. The analysis said these attackers, which include the Orlando shooter and the couple who gunned down 14 people in San Bernardino, often acted alone and did not have “sustained, substantive, in-person contact with foreign terrorist organizations,” rather they “scraped together ideological justification” from online and social media sources.
“In essence, these attacks involved do-it-yourself — DIY — terrorists,” the study said. “Largely isolated from the operational support of terrorist organizations, they acquired violent skills (however rudimentary) by themselves or relied on abilities that they had developed prior to becoming violent jihadists.”
Vigil for Orlando shooting victims held in politically conservative Orange County
The comfort of words flowed, as smooth as their spirits.
A vigil for the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, the largest in U.S. history, took place in a gay nightclub in Santa Ana — the seat of famously conservative Orange County.
“This is the church of the LGBTQ community, our safe space,” Sian Wiltshire of Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church said Wednesday night, standing under rainbow-colored spotlights at the Velvet Lounge.
About 100 people, many of them holding flickering candles, intoned the names of the dead.
He shattered a veneer of safety that we all had constructed. I feel like we have to go back and reclaim that.
— Rev. Kent Doss of Tapestry Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Mission Viejo
Obama’s Orlando visit will be different than previous trips following mass shootings
President Obama has arrived in Orlando, Fla., to meet with the family members of victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre.
But unlike some of the president’s previous trips for memorial services after mass shootings, this one will be decidedly low-key: no address to a large crowd, but simply “a few personal reflections” to the press after spending time with mourners.
The White House has worked closely with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to coordinate the visit, spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with the president, and did not want to overburden local law enforcement officials strained by the attacks.
The quick visit, though, was a way for both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to show that “Americans stand shoulder to shoulder” with the people of central Florida. “There’s no more tangible way to show support than by traveling to the city where this horrific incident occurred,” Schultz said.
The shooting has quickly become fodder for the presidential campaign, but Obama’s visit has a bipartisan note. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida joined Obama aboard Air Force One to travel to Orlando. And among those greeting Obama upon arrival was Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Obama arrives in Orlando
Couple killed in shooting to be buried together
Family of victim arrives at Amway Center
Alex Honorato just arrived at the Amway Center. His son, Miguel, was killed in the shooting. He was 30 and a father of three.
The elder Honorato arrived with several women who appeared to be family members. They walked in silently.
You can read more about Miguel Honorato here.
More from the Amway Center in Orlando
A young Latino man arrived wearing a rainbow ribbon and bracelet. He clutched a framed photo to his chest. Asked if he had anything to say, he looked down and shook his head. An escort lead him through a brief rain and into the building where those invited waited just inside the door, guarded by police.
Shooting victims, emergency workers arrive at Amway Center, where Obama is set to speak
Obama is about to arrive at the Amway Center, a venue in downtown Orlando.
A Florida Hospital ambulance is parked outside, and Ariel Santiago, 32, one of the people wounded attack, was wheeled inside on a gurney.
Nurses in blue scrubs are arriving, and some of them hug each other as they’re waiting to enter. Some people walk in, arm in arm, teary, with escorts from a nearby parking lot.
Obama to meet with shooting survivors
Update on status of hospitalized Orlando shooting victims
Twenty-three Pulse shooting victims were still hospitalized at the Orlando Regional Medical Center as of Thursday morning. Six of them were in critical condition, three were in “guarded” condition and 14 were stable. Florida Hospital also has five patients in fair condition.
Three more surgeries on victims were scheduled for Thursday. Since Sunday, surgeons have performed 50 operations on the victims of the shooting.
Mateen searched on Facebook for news of his rampage as it was happening
Shortly before he was shot and killed by police at about 5 a.m. Sunday, Omar Mateen searched on social media for news of his homicidal rampage at the Pulse nightclub, according to the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Apparently using a phone, Mateen searched Facebook for “Pulse Orlando” and “Shooting,” committee staff found, after uncovering five Facebook accounts they believe Mateen had used.
Mateen also posted his ostensible political agenda on Facebook from the gay nightclub where he killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.
“America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state..I pledge my alliance to [Islamic State leader] abu bakr al Baghdadi..may Allah accept me,” he wrote.
He also wrote: “The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west” and “You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance.”
The final post on Facebook reads, “In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa.”
A complex web of issues to address as Obama heads to Orlando
President Obama is a reluctant veteran of memorial services for victims of mass killings, yet no single one of those he’s presided over prepares him fully to mark the Orlando massacre he will mark Thursday.
The deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history, the attack stands distinct in the president’s experience not only for its scope and scale, but also for the complex web of issues it brought to the forefront — fear of terrorism and radicalism, worries about political fallout and the vulnerability of targeted communities.
Aides anticipated that Obama’s address on Thursday will be brief and focus on principles upheld by the victims and the responders.
They exemplified pluralism and unity, said one aide, ideals the president wants to promote as more powerful than the extremism espoused by their killer. And he will set aside the partisan rancor that he addressed in a searing critique Tuesday of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s anti-terrorism agenda, including a proposed ban on Muslims from entering the U.S.
FBI says it is confident it can recover data from Orlando shooter’s damaged cellphone
FBI agents reviewing Omar Mateen’s electronic communications and call records have had difficulty accessing data stored on the cellphone he used during the Sunday massacre because it was damaged by water and blood, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
But FBI analysts are putting the device through a drying process and are confident they ultimately can recover phone numbers, texts, photos and other data, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss progress in the investigation.
A second law enforcement official said FBI analysts had determined that Mateen downloaded jihadist propaganda to his laptop computer, including videos of beheadings by militants.
Despite scrutiny of the hard drive, the FBI has found no documents written by Mateen that shed light on why he chose the Pulse nightclub for his attack, or why he chose Sunday.
Wands raised in tribute for employee at Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Universal Orlando staff and guests gathered outside Hogwarts Castle on Monday to pay tribute to one of their own in a vigil straight out of “Harry Potter.”
Luis Vielma was one of the 49 people killed when a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday. The 22-year-old was an attraction operator at the theme park whose responsibilities included running the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride and was described by a co-worker as “a funny, sweet, nerdy guy without a mean side.”
During the tribute, Vielma was remembered as “one of the bravest and best Gryffindors the world has ever known” and that “he was kind and he was brave and he was one of the kindest souls you will ever meet in your life.”
Omar Mateen appeared in 2012 documentary about the BP oil spill, CBS reports
Omar Mateen appeared in a 2012 documentary about the 2010 BP oil spill called “The Big Fix” while he was working as a security guard during the cleanup.
“Everybody’s just, get out to get paid,” he said in the documentary, according to CBS News. “They’re like hoping for more oil to come out and more people to complain so they’ll have jobs. They want more disaster to happen.”
Mateen worked for the security company G4S when the documentary was filmed and was still employed there at the time of the massacre. Here’s the trailer for “The Big Fix:”
Craigslist ad warns, ‘San Diego you are next’
San Diego police are investigating an ominous post reported on Craigslist that referred to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and warned that “San Diego you are next.”
KGTV-TV reported Tuesday night that a viewer had brought the item, posted in the “men seeking men” section of the free ad website, to the station’s attention.
The post, which has since been removed, featured a photo a handgun firing a bullet with the title “We need more Orlando’s [sic]”.
— Debbi BakerRead More
U.S. plans tighter security to counter threat of ‘homegrown violent extremists’
Travelers, sports fans and concertgoers may see more police and tighter security screening at airports and events this summer in the wake of Sunday night’s mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., according to a Department of Homeland Security bulletin issued Wednesday.
While no intelligence indicates a “specific and credible” threat of an impending terrorist plot, the bulletin cites the shooting at an Orlando nightclub, as well as recent attacks at a county building in San Bernardino, at an airport and subway in Brussels, and at restaurants and a concert all in Paris as examples of terrorists targeting of crowded public spaces.
“In this environment, we are particularly concerned about homegrown violent extremists who could strike with little or no notice. The tragic events of Orlando several days ago reinforce this,” the bulletin states.
The wording of the one-page advisory, called a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, is similar to a notice issued in December under a revamped terrorism alert system that replaced the widely mocked color-coded threat alerts. Last year’s notice was set to expire on Thursday.
The new bulletin urged Americans to continue to travel and attend public events but to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to police.
“Make a mental note of emergency exits and locations of the nearest security personnel,” it says. It also recommends that Americans carry a list of emergency contacts and keep cellphones in their pockets instead of in bags, so they aren’t lost during a violent incident.
Democrat mounts gun-control filibuster on U.S. Senate floor
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who made gun control one of his priorities following the massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, has taken control of the Senate floor.
He wants the Senate to vote on a measure banning anyone on the no-fly list from purchasing weapons, and says he won’t yield his time until the vote happens. Murphy’s Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, have been joining him on the floor in support of the effort.
Nelson has been talking about the Orlando shooting rampage and pointedly noted that the assault weapon used Sunday morning to kill 49 people would have been banned had Congress not allowed the Assault Weapons Ban to expire in 2004.
As we have been reporting, Democrats in Congress have been pushing the issue in the U.S. House as well. The debate has led to high emotions and some lawmakers have been visibly angry as they attempt to force a vote.
C-Span has a livestream you can watch above, and some excerpts of Murphy’s remarks are below.
Mateen’s wife could face federal charges if she knew about attack
The investigation into the massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., is now turning toward one of the people who was closest to the gunman: Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman. Federal authorities are using a grand jury in Florida that would be a vehicle to file federal charges against Salman if she knew the attack was going to occur but failed to alert authorities.
Salman has told FBI investigators that she warned her husband not to commit the shooting and that she accompanied him when he purchased ammunition, the official said. She also told the FBI that she had driven with him to the Pulse nightclub at least once before.
Mateen’s father described Salman as a “very sweet lady” who attended family affairs and took care of his grandson. He had no knowledge of whether she had known about Omar’s plans, he said, referring all questions to the FBI.
She could face federal charges ranging from prison — the intentional concealing of knowledge of a felony — or aiding and abetting a crime, or even conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, depending on her level of culpability. A federal law enforcement official said prosecutors were in no rush to charge her with a crime — if they deem one has been committed — because she does not pose a threat.
Sarah Schall, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, said Wednesday that her office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida would not comment on any grand jury investigations. She declined to confirm or deny the existence of any grand jury proceedings related to the Orlando mass shooting and would not say which district would handle it.
Details emerge about Orlando gunman’s wife
Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, grew up in a hilly neighborhood of tract homes in Rodeo, Calif., a small suburb of just 9,000 people in Contra Costa County just east of an oil refinery next to San Pablo Bay.
Neighbors said Salman celebrated her wedding to Mateen a few years ago in the neighborhood and then moved away to Florida. After her marriage, she rarely visited.
Salman’s mother has been saddened and depressed since she heard of what happened.
— Ron Lin
NRA: It should be harder for people on terror watch list to buy guns
Full statement from Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action:
More than 1,000 miles from Orlando, a mother makes preparations to see her son’s remains
Rufina Paniagua, 54, mother of one of the people killed at Pulse, said she was doing the paperwork to travel to Florida from Mexico and see her son’s remains. Her son was Joel Rayon Paniagua, 36.
“My son was a good kid,” she said. “He always worried about me, sent me money. His father abandoned us, and Joel was always taking care of me money-wise. ... I don’t understand how someone could do this.”
Paniagua said her son lived and worked in Florida for about nine years, then returned to their home in Mexico’s Veracruz state several years ago. There he worked at a fruit stand in the market, but made so little money that he wanted to return to the U.S., his mother said.
“I told him to stay, to work here, but he had his dreams, his goals,” she said. Joel returned to Florida in August.
Paniagua spoke to her son on Friday. He was worried about her, she said, because he had heard terrible news about “people killing each other in Mexico.”
Paniagua said her son worked as a gardener, and was saving money to help her get a passport and travel to the U.S. Thanks to him and his earnings, she said, she has been able to buy a house and a car.
“The [state] government contacted me [about the killing], and I prayed to God that it was not him,” she said. “I just want to have him here, to bury his body here, although I still have a hope that it may not be him.”
‘Yeah, I have a lot of bullets,’ gunman told hostages
Orlando Torres, 52, one of the promoters at Pulse, was trapped in a neighboring stall of the same bathroom with a drag queen friend. Torres said he drew upon his experience as a former auxiliary police officer in Queens, N.Y., and security guard at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he and other victims would later be treated.
“Three hours in that bathroom with that gunman; I’m surprised that we don’t have a bullet wound on us. We were protected. We were saved. It was just a miracle,” he said in an interview.
Torres said the gunman called police to say, “America needs to stop bombing ISIS in Syria.”
Torres added: “He just wanted to repeat, only to get the message across. They were trying to ask him other questions and he wasn’t liking it. He wasn’t ready to give answers and so he hung up on them.”
Later, he heard the gunman brag, “Yeah, I have a lot of bullets.”
Media push for release of 911 tapes in Orlando shooting
Two dozen news agencies, including the Los Angeles Times, have joined forces to demand the release of recordings of 911 callers frantically reporting a gunman on a deadly rampage early Sunday at a gay nightclub just south of downtown Orlando.
Shooter Omar Mateen’s “cool and calm” exchange with a 911 dispatcher while he was carrying out the assault that left 49 dead and 53 injured is among the requested recordings. Mateen, 29, died in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Citing an “ongoing investigation,” Orlando police have refused to release the tapes.
“Even in critical and challenging times, transparency is important,” said a four-page letter sent Tuesday to Orlando’s city attorney from media lawyer Rachel Fugate of Thomas & LoCicero in Tampa. “It helps the citizens … have a better understanding of what transpired and try to come to grips with the horrific and unimaginable tragedy.”
The Pulse nightclub attack, carried out over three horrific hours early Sunday, is the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
“We’d prefer to release those tapes, but we have to follow the law and the law is clear,” Orlando City Atty. Mayanne Downs said by telephone Tuesday afternoon.
Other publications joining in the demand for release of the material include the Sun Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, the Associated Press and others. Included in the request were dispatch and scanner recordings.
— Tonya Alanez, Orlando Sentinel
Orlando gunman sought out Islamic State videos
Omar Mateen increasingly sought out Islamic State videos and other radical Islamist propaganda in the months leading up to his deadly rampage at a gay nightclub Sunday, investigators have found.
A counter-terrorism official said investigators uncovered the material while reviewing Mateen’s searches on the Internet. Their inquiry so far has revealed that Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, drove him to Pulse nightclub at least once in the days before the attack, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Investigators are looking closely at how much Salman knew in advance of the attacks, and whether she could have warned law enforcement. They also are scrutinizing Mateen’s visit to a Disney World property early this month, apparently during the Gay Days Orlando festivities, and other potential targets.
“It is fair to say there was a considerable amount of planning involved and scouting of potential locations,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a telephone interview Tuesday after a closed-door briefing for House members by FBI Director James B. Comey and other officials. Schiff would not give further details.
At this point, the FBI doesn’t think Mateen had any accomplices in carrying out the massacre, but it’s possible others knew about his plan, Schiff said.
“The investigation is continuing into whether anyone provided logistical support or material support or had knowledge of the attack,” Schiff said.
Late-night TV hosts react with grief, outrage and calls to action
As has become routine in moments of national tragedy, the late-night conversation on Sunday and Monday was dominated by the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.
The attack left 50 people dead, including the perpetrator, and stands as the worst mass shooting in modern American history. Late-night comedians including Samantha Bee, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon reacted to this grim milestone with grief, outrage, pleas for tolerance and, in some cases, calls to action.
‘Sam Bee wants to take your guns away.’ Yes! The ones that mow down a room full of people in seconds? Yes, I do want to take those guns away!
— Samantha Bee, host of “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”
Twenty bodies released to a funeral home
The Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office said 20 bodies of the 49 deceased from the shootings at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., have been released to a funeral home.
All 49 victims of the shooting have been identified. Their families have been notified as well.
Ann Marie Varga, communications division manager for Orange County, said the county does not have the power to release the shooter’s body.
“The FBI would be the only one to release Mateen’s body,” she said.
Varga said she did not know when the FBI would release it.
— Alexia Fernandez
California lawmakers move forward with a dozen gun-control bills
With emotions still raw over the massacre in Orlando, Fla., tempers flared Tuesday as divided state lawmakers advanced a dozen gun-control bills, including proposals to outlaw the sale in California of semiautomatic rifles with easily detachable magazines.
The bills originally were introduced in response to a mass shooting in San Bernardino in December, but the killing of 49 people in an Orlando nightclub Sunday was invoked over and over Tuesday by Democrats as state legislative committees heard testimony before voting to send bills to the floor for votes.
At one hearing, Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) angrily confronted National Rifle Assn. lobbyist Dan Reid, accusing his organization of being responsible for the Orlando shooting because of its lobbying against gun control.
“Less than 72 hours ago, 49 people were slain in a nightclub in Orlando,” Low said during the hearing. “It’s very difficult for me to sit here and look you in the eye and have respect for you, Dan.”
Mateen’s father tells media to leave
‘He wasn’t going to stop killing people until he was killed.’ Survivors of Orlando shooting recount their ordeal
Angel Santiago and Patience Carter, who were both trapped in a restroom during the Orlando nightclub shooting, recount their ordeal. “He wasn’t going to stop killing people until he was killed,” Carter said.
As Patience Carter and two friends cowered inside the handicapped bathroom stall, injured and pinned by a crush of bleeding bodies, the gunman who opened fire in the Pulse nightclub kept talking.
“He said, ‘Are there any black people in here?’ I was too afraid to answer,” said Carter, who is African American.
Carter continued: “There was an African American man in the stall with us ... he said, ‘Yes, there are about six or seven of us.’ The gunman responded back to him saying that, ‘you know, I don’t have a problem with black people; this is about my country. You guys suffered enough.’”
Biden: Federal officials ‘getting to the bottom of the tragedy’
Vice President Joe Biden says the attack on a gay nightclub in Florida is becoming “clearer and more straightforward.”
Biden said he had been briefed at a national security meeting shortly before making the comments at an unrelated event in New York City.
He said federal officials were “getting to the bottom of the tragedy.” He says it is “becoming clearer and more straightforward than a lot of us even thought.”
He did not elaborate on that comment, but said President Obama would say more in the coming days.
Biden also praised the work of the New York Police Department. He says the agency surpasses every other city in the nation in terms of cooperation and intelligence sharing.
— Associated Press
GLAAD responds to speculation about gunman’s sexuality
LGBT rights group GLAAD issued the following statement Tuesday:
Media set up outside Mateen’s father’s house
Mateen’s wife escorted by police back to her home
The Times’ sister paper in Florida, The Sun Sentinel, reports:
Accompanied by a police escort on Tuesday, Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, returned to the apartment she shared with him, and officers were investigating a reported burglary at the home early Monday morning.
Fort Pierce police spokesman Ed Cunningham confirmed the police escort to Mateen’s address in the 2500 block of South 17th Street, but did not say who was escorted.
In an interview at his Port St. Lucie home, the shooter’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, confirmed Salman was escorted by police to the apartment.
Miami news station WSVN-Channel 7 captured video of the woman being escorted at the apartment. In the video, the woman is seen hiding her face with a hoodie.
Cunningham also said the department is looking into a reported burglary at the house Monday.
He said the FBI left the home secured at 5 a.m. Monday. At 10 a.m., the department got a call from reporters that the back door of the apartment was open.
Mateen’s wife drove with him to Pulse at least once before shooting
Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, has told FBI agents that she drove with him to the Pulse nightclub on at least one occasion before Sunday’s mass shooting and that she also accompanied him to shop at a firearms dealer.
Mateen purchased a Glock handgun and an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle during two separate visits this month to the St. Lucie Shooting Center, several miles from PGA Village, a gated community where he worked in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as a security guard.
The FBI is investigating whether Salman had knowledge of her husband’s plan to attack and kill patrons at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
If Salman knew of her husband’s intent to commit terrorism and didn’t report it to law enforcement, she could face criminal charges.
But a federal law enforcement official said the Justice Department is in no rush to file charges because no evidence has emerged to suggest the gunman had accomplices, and there is no imminent threat of another attack.