It’s been two days since Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard from Fort Pierce, entered the Pulse nightclub, killing 49 people, wounding 53 and engaging in a three-hour standoff before he was felled by police bullets.
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“This was an act of violence, born out of hate, that inflicted terror on an entire community,”said Ron Hopper, special Federal Bureau of Investigation agent in charge of the case, at a press conference”.
Mateen said that previously, his son had seen two men kissing in public, near women and children. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican.
A key topic for investigators is how much Mateen’s Palestinian-American wife may have known about the plot.
As reported by Breitbart News yesterday, Salman went with Mateen and their three-year-old son to Disney World back in April, seeking to find more information regarding the potential ease of executing a terrorist attack there in the name of the Islamic State.
Despite his professed loyalty to the extremist group, the Obama administration has said it has seen no evidence that the shooting rampage was directed by the Islamic State. A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately return a call for comment, and Facebook had no immediate comment.
Salman allegedly told investigators that she drove Mateen to Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, about a week before Sunday’s shooting, suggesting that the gunman had identified the target for some time before moving forward.
Officials also said that in May Mateen searched on Facebook for the radicalized couple behind the San Bernardino, California, shooting last December.
Noor Mateen is cooperating with authorities, and as WFTV noted, that may affect any decision to arrest her.
Comey told reporters Monday that investigators are still trying to figure out the exact motive behind the shooting. 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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“This will be, I think, an emotional trip”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “No one can prepare you for what those officers encountered that night”.
