ORLANDO, Fla. – After opening fire on scores of people inside a nightclub here early Sunday, the gunman threatened to strap explosives to his hostages and left police fearing possible booby traps even after the attacker was killed, the city’s mayor said Wednesday.
No explosives or bomb vests were found, but suspicions of possible devices forced authorities to wait a “significant time” before entering the club and fully assessing the mayhem after a commando-style raid freed survivors and killed the shooter, Omar Mateen, said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.
These comments offered further details into Mateen’s actions during the bloodshed that left 49 people dead and dozens wounded, but still left investigators struggling to understand the motives and planning for the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Even as the timeline of the attack and aftermath have become clearer, the wider probes moved in various directions – stretching from a quiet town north of San Francisco to a German bank as the gunman’s family came under increasing scrutiny.
Since Sunday’s attack, authorities have confronted a jumble of potential leads and loose ends. Among the unanswered questions were why an earlier FBI investigation into the gunman was closed and whether Sunday’s slaughter at the gay-oriented club was an act of politically driven rage or triggered by personal demons – or even a mix of both.
Without an apparent self-written manifesto or video message by the 29-year-old shooter, investigators have looked for clues among survivors and former friends to dig into his psyche. They also have looked deeper into his family – particularly his wife – for any possible knowledge of Mateen’s plans before the bloodshed.
Investigators say Noor Z. Salman, Mateen’s wife, went with him at one point to buy ammunition, according to a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the probe.
The FBI has also learned from interviews with Salman that she accompanied him on at least one trip to Pulse before the attack for what a U.S. law enforcement official described as “reconnaissance.”
The official said that Salman warned Mateen not to carry out the attack, apparently as he was leaving Saturday night for Orlando. The official, who asked not to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation, said the couple surveilled the club between June 5 and June 9. FBI officials said Mateen bought the guns in early June.
Investigators are still working to corroborate Salman’s story, according to authorities, and will try to determine if she suffered any abuse at the gunman’s hands. His first wife — Sitora Yusifiy, to whom he was briefly married in 2009 — said that he beat her repeatedly while they were married.
How authorities ultimately view Salman’s role and statements could potentially shift if she was a victim of abuse or feared for her life, officials say.
Three people identifying themselves as FBI agents conducted interviews Tuesday in the neighborhood in northern California where Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, was raised in a family with Palestinian roots, The Associated Press reported.
Video from the Miami-based channel WSVN showed Salman being escorted from her home in Fort Pierce, Florida, shrouding her face with the hood from a white sweatshirt. Her left hand had what appeared to be a silver wedding band.
Salman, 30, has not been placed under arrest, but she has emerged as a possible critical link in the struggle to understand Mateen – a security guard and bodybuilder – and what caused him to storm the crowded club and carry out the deadly attack.
Dyer said 911 calls from inside the Pulse nightclub claimed Mateen was talking about bomb vests and possibly wearing one himself. A robot was used to ultimately clear the club after the siege was over. A backpack and battery were found near Mateen’s body, adding to the initial fears of possible explosives.
“All indications were it was booby trapped,” Dyer said of the club.
Meanwhile, German investigators examined a Düsseldorf bank account held by Mateen’s father, who has claimed that his son visited him at his home in Port St. Lucie, the day before the attack and showed no hints of anger or anxiety. Germany’s Rheinischen Post reported that Mateen’s Afghanistan-born father, Seddique Mateen, posted the bank account details in a 2013 video soliciting donations – receiving only two payments totaling the equivalent of about $200.
There was no immediate indication of how the money was used, but the elder Mateen has been active in the Afghan expatriate community in the United States and elsewhere as a self-proclaimed political figure and analyst.
As the survivors of the attack recount their stories of raw terror, some possible nuggets have emerged for investigators.
Mateen, 29, said he carried out the attack because he wanted “Americans to stop bombing his country,” according to a witness who survived the rampage and heard the shooter make a 911 call – in which he proclaimed loyalty to the Islamic State but also mentioned other Islamist militant factions and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
In addition, Mateen made at least one other phone call during the standoff, to an acquaintance he knew in Florida, two U.S. law enforcement officials said. It’s unknown what Mateen told this person. Mateen’s phone has been recovered, and forensic experts were about to access the data, an official said.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the gunman “was an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized.”
