The gunman responsible for the worst mass shooting in US history told a police negotiator during a standoff at a Florida nightclub that the United States needed to stop its airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, according to a transcript of the phone conversation released Friday.
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The gunman who slaughtered 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub told a police negotiator the attack was a protest against USA bombings of Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. The police official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had called him about the Pulse shooting, and the dispatcher tells him that Mateen had said what sounded like “an Islamic prayer” and pledged allegiance to “Abdul something”.
He then “pledge [d] allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State”.
Mateen explains that his actions were triggered by the US killing of an Islamic state leader, Abu Waheeb.
Mateen responded, “Well, you need to know they need to stop bombing Syria and Iraq”.
Around 3:25 a.m., Mateen said, “They need to stop killing people”. “What I’m trying to do is prevent anybody else from getting”.
“My homeboy Tamerlan Tsarnaev did his thing on the Boston Marathon”, Mateen said.
Mateen, who said that Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was his “homeboy”, claimed that he had a bomb-rigged auto outside the gay club, though no such explosives were found. The negotiator asked if Mateen, armed with a Sig Sauer MCX assault rifle and a glock semiautomatic handgun, had been injured.
In the months following the mass shooting, speculations over Mateen’s motivation have included everything from his sexuality to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) indoctrination.
The negotiator replies, “I do”.
“Call me Mujahedeen, call me the soldier of God”, Mateen said.
Mateen: Do your f***ing homework and figure out who Abu (Wahib) is, okay?
When the negotiator asked him to identify himself, Mateen answered, “My name is Islamic soldier”, and, “Call me Mujahideen”. But when the negotiator asked if he meant a bomb vest, Mateen joked no, “like, you know, to go out to a wedding”.
The negotiator then tried to introduce himself to Mateen.
Mateen: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. “They need to stop the US air strikes, OK?.You have to tell the USA government to stop bombing”.
He says the “trigger” for the attack was a USA -led air strike that killed Abu Wahid nearly a month before the Orlando attack.
A few minutes later, Mateen warned that in the next few days the people were going to see “more of this type of action going on”. “I’m doing that, but I need you to come outside with no weapons”.
Mateen hung up several times on the negotiator and at one point said his questions annoyed him. The last sound noted on the transcript was the ringing of the telephone.
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The Orlando police SWAT team broke down a Pulse bathroom to shoot Mateen and rescue clubgoers.
