In his posts, the gunman, Omar Mateen, called on the United States and Russian Federation to stop the bombing campaign against the Islamic State, the extremist group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq, pledged allegiance to the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and said, “may Allah accept me”, Sen. But she also told them that she had gone with him to buy ammunition, and that she had once driven him to Pulse, they said.
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On Sunday, Mateen stormed the Pulse nightclub around 2 a.m. and began shooting into the crowded dance club, killing 49 and wounding another 53 before police shot him dead in what U.S. authorities are calling both a “hate crime” and “terrorist incident”.
The call comes as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Orlando on Thursday.
While many, especially on the political right, have been quick to point to Mateen’s ties to terrorism, many members of the LGBT community are considering the shooting as another example of violence toward lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the U.S. Still others remain focused on the tragedy as another example of the country’s potential need for stricter gun laws. “I did it for the Islamic State”.
As recently as Monday, FBI Director James Comey said it was “not entirely clear” what terror interest the gunman sought to support.
Islamic State reiterated on Monday a claim of responsibility, though it offered no signs to indicate coordination with the gunman.
A marriage certificate from the County of Contra Costa in California shows Mateen married Noor Salman, of Rodeo, Calif., on September 29, 2011. “So I would call it a hate crime”.
The massacre reverberated through the US presidential race, with the presumptive major-party opponents in the November 8 election, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, clashing over how to confront Islamist militants. Hundreds of people attended a vigil Monday night in downtown Orlando, a central Florida city that is home to theme parks including the Walt Disney World Resort.
Hopper said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is the lead agency on the case, was still investigating whether someone else helped Mateen plan the shooting.
“Law enforcement is talking to everyone associated with the shooter”, said Mr. Bentley, declining to say whether Ms. Salman is cooperating with investigators. Mateen used both an assault weapon and a handgun in the attack.
The killer also made searches of the couple who carried out the San Bernardino attack and searched for “Baghdadi Speech”, Johnson told Fox News.
More than radical ideology may have been a factor in Mateen’s case.
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Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill, controlling and abusive. They have a 3-year-old son and lived in Fort Pierce, about two hours from the massacre. “They’re, like, hoping for more oil to come out and more people to complain so they’ll have the jobs”. “He was very slick”.
