A patron hiding inside the Pulse gay nightclub as a gunman carried out the worst mass shooting in modern USA history whispered to a dispatcher on a 911 call, ‘He is going to kill us’.
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Until Thursday, the city had released just more than two dozen of the more than 600 calls made to dispatchers during the three-hour standoff while Omar Mateen killed 49 people in the worst mass shooting in modern USA history. 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”.
Police released the more comprehensive transcript of the conversation between Mateen and the negotiator.
When the dispatcher asks Mateen his name, he says “My name is I pledge of allegiance to (unidentifiable name) of the Islamic State”. He was also convinced that the USA and Russian Federation were working together to kill innocent women and children. “They need to stop the US air strikes, OK?.You have to tell the USA government to stop bombing”.
Around 3:25 a.m., Mateen said, “They need to stop killing people”. My brother is calling me right now saying there is dead people everywhere and he is hiding in the stall.
“You already know what I did”, Mateen said.
Yusufiy said that Mateen’s father often made fun of him in public for acting in a manner he perceived to be gay, and that Mateen picked up on his father’s homophobic rhetoric.
“My homeboy Tamerlan Tsarnaev did his thing on the Boston Marathon”, Mateen said.
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.
“All I can do is help individuals and I want to start with helping you”, the negotiator said.
The transcripts of the calls, released for the first time, reveal the gunman’s rambling demands as he refers to himself as an “Islamic soldier”.
“They should have not bombed and killed Abu [Waheeb]”, he said.
Mateen: Do your f***ing homework and figure out who Abu (Wahib) is, okay?
Mateen then stopped talking to the negotiator for three minutes while the officer tried to ask him questions.
Mateen: You’re annoying me with these phone calls and I don’t really appreciate it.
The negotiator then replies, “I understand”.
Mateen: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. A representative tells her, “First name is going to be “Omar.’ Middle initial is ‘M” as in Mary”.
Mateen: What is going on is that the air strikes need to stop.
In a freaky exchange, Mateen told the negotiator that “air strikes need to stop” and repeatedly answered questions with “No.no. no.no. no”.
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“You need to stop the US air strikes”. They are killing too many children. I’m doing that, but I need you to come outside with no weapons. The last sound noted on the transcript was the ringing of the telephone. Mateen was killed in an exchange of gunfire with SWAT team members rescuing trapped patrons. Mateen was in the nightclub’s bathroom with several hostages, police said.
