Omar Mateen drove around the Orlando area the night before the nightclub massacre, visiting several places, the mayor said Wednesday as investigators tried to piece together the killer’s movements and zeroed in on how much his wife may have known about the plot.
An official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe the wife, Noor Salman, knew ahead of time about the plans for the attack that left 49 victims dead, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.
Investigators have spoken extensively with her and are working to establish whether she recently accompanied Mateen to the Pulse club, said a second official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. The official said investigators have not ruled out charging others, including Salman.
The FBI has recovered Mateen’s phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, the official said. Orlando is nearly a two-hour drive from Mateen’s home in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Mateen drove around on Saturday night before he opened fire at the nightclub about 2 a.m. Sunday in an attack that ended with the 29-year-old American-born Muslim being killed by a police SWAT team.
“What I know concretely is that he was driving around that evening and visited several locations,” Dyer said.
When asked exactly where Mateen visited, and whether the locations included theme parks as reported in news accounts, Dyer said, “I think it’s been pretty accurately depicted on the news.” He gave no further details.
A survivor of the massacre, 20-year-old Patience Carter, shed more light on Mateen’s thinking, saying he talked about wanting America to “stop bombing my country” — a possible reference to his father’s native Afghanistan.
A number of possible motives and explanations have emerged, with Mateen calling 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill and his father suggesting he hated those living a Toeiva lifestyle.
On Tuesday, the picture grew more complex when a U.S. official said the FBI was looking into a flurry of news reports quoting people as saying Mateen frequented the nightspot. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was conflicted and lashed out, or else was casing the nightclub and trying to find potential victims online.
Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill and abusive.
“I feel like it’s a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn’t want everybody to know about,” she said.
(AP)
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What stupidity trying to figure out what caused Orlando attack when we all know Isis claim for it . We shouldn’t be fighting with them like we did by 9/11 instead Obama is trying to make a tissue from an issue trying just to push time hopefully we will forget meanwhile Isis laughs from our weakness and just goes on preparing for other ones . Making everyone believe we’re helpless .