Omar Mateen, who killed 49 at a gay nightclub in Florida, had several conversations with authorities during massacre
US authorities will release “limited transcripts” on Monday of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen and police negotiators’ telephone conversations during his attack at a gay nightclub that left 49 people dead last week, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday.
Armed with a semi-automatic weapon, Mateen went on a bloody rampage at the Pulse club on June 12, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others. Mateen, a 29-year-old Muslim security guard, died in a hail of police gunfire after police stormed the venue following a three-hour standoff.
Lynch said the conversations included Mateen’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, and his views of US policy.
But those statements will not be included in the transcripts released to the public, she said.
“What we’re not going to do is further this man’s propaganda,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lynch said the transcripts would cover only portions of the telephone exchanges with police negotiators so as “to avoid re-victimizing those who went through this horror.”
Authorities are continuing to investigate what motivated and enabled Mateen to carry out the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
Lynch told ABC’s “This Week” that the top goal while intensifying pressure on IS is to build a complete profile of him in order to help prevent another massacre like Orlando.
“As you can see from this investigation, we are going back and learning everything we can about this killer, about his contacts, people who may have known him or seen him. And we’re trying to build that profile so that we can move forward,” Lynch said.
Lynch said she would be traveling to Orlando on Tuesday to meet with investigators.
Speaking to CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Lynch said that a key goal of the investigation was to determine why Mateen targeted the gay community.
A lawyer for the Council of American-Islamic Relations said that the FBI interviewed a man who worshipped at the same mosque as Mateen. Omar Saleh said he sat in on the Friday interview at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, the same mosque that Mateen attended near his home. Saleh said the interview lasted about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, the wave of support for shooting victims and survivors of the attack continued Sunday. Memorial services were scheduled for a number of churches in Orlando and a vigil was to be held Sunday evening. Around the city, people prayed on the street and left balloons, flowers, pictures and posters have been left to honor the victims.
Dozens of people waited several hours at Realm Tattoos to get one of the recently drawn “One Pulse” tattoos etched into their skin. The tattoos are free, but people are encouraged to leave a donation for the victims, which will be distributed by Southern Nights, another Orlando nightclub.
Jonathan Betancourt, 36, the shop’s owner, said he was surprised at how fast the community came together in such a short time.
“We love to tattoo. This is what we live for. Come in, show your love,” Betancourt said. “You always got to pay it forward. This is my way to pay it forward.”
As reported by The Times of Israel