Omar Mateen and 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting ("6/12/2016"): Quotes and Questions for Investigations
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Were Omar Mateen and Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha close friends (despite Matin's assertions to the contrary in the FBI interviews and their assessment of their ties as "casual")? Is Omar the same person whom abu-Salha described as "a friend" in his last video? Did abu-Salha stay in Omar's house when he was in Florida?
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The American Islamist who carried out a suicide bombing in Syria in May said that he fled the United States because he believed he was under surveillance by the FBI, according to a video released Wednesday. In an earlier video released by the militant group al-Nusra, Abu-Salha was shown
burning his American passport.
Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a Palestinian American also known as Abu Hurayra al-Amriki,
drove a truck bomb into a restaurant filled with Syrian government troops in Jabal Al-Arba'een on May 25. According to the
New York Times, Abu-Salha's attack killed 37 people.
In
the video, Abu-Salha says, “I stayed with my friend's family [in Florida]... The reason why I had to stay with them is that, the state I was in, I was being watched by the FBI. I finally realized that I was being watched by them. So I had to flee back to my state to throw them off and make them think that I was somewhere else in the United States.”
The most recent video is the third one featuring Abu-Salha released by the militant group al-Nusra.
In the video, Abu-Salha also tells of a friend in Florida who had promised to join him in jihad, but abandoned him at the airport just before they were supposed to leave together.
“I bought the tickets [for travel to the Middle East] for me and my friend and... what happened was, he was acting very strange. He wasn't talking and was thinking a lot," Abu-Salha says in the video. “When I was waiting for my flight, I told my friend to watch my stuff while I [prayed]. When I came back, my bag was there but he was gone... It hurt me so much because I love my friend... But I forgive him.”
NBC News reports that members of Abu-Salha's family said that he had traveled to Texas and then returned to Florida in 2013. He reportedly travelled to and received training in Syria in 2012.
Abu-Salha, who describes his journey to join the fight in Syria via Turkey, also claims he was inspired by the lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Islamic cleric, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen three years ago.
“In a lecture, Anwar al-Awlaki said when you make [the trip to fight in jihad] it's like a cliff. Jump off the cliff, but you don't know if the water is deep or shallow. You don't know if there's rocks or if it’s going to be very deep. You just have to jump and put your faith in Allah that it's going to be deep and you won't be harmed, that you’re going to be safe after you land in the water."
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A new Senate letter says Orlando gunman Omar Mateen made a series of Facebook posts before and during Sunday's attack, including blasting the "filthy ways of the West" and blaming the United States for the deaths of "innocent women and children."
The letter, from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says Mateen in one post pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. Another said "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic State." According to the letter, he also searched that morning for "Pulse Orlando" and "Shooting."
A Senate committee is asking the FBI to turn over its files on Orlando gunman Omar Mateen. In a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs asked the FBI to provide records related to two previously closed investigations concerning Mateen. The committee also requested details of the placement and removal of Mateen from a terrorist watch list, any prior visits to the Pulse nightclub or Walt Disney World before the attack and his travel to Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the committee said it wanted information about Mateen's use of social media before and during the attack, and the FBI's communication with state and local law enforcement about Mateen's comments about terrorism prior to the attack.
Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen passed a psychological evaluation in 2007 as part of his application to be a private security guard. Florida records show Mateen was determined to be mentally and emotionally stable in September 2007 so he could work for The Wackenhut Corp., later renamed G4S Secure Solutions. The records state he took a written psychological test or had an evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Mateen also stated in his 2007 firearm application that he neither had been diagnosed with a mental illness nor had a history of alcohol or substance abuse.
An Orlando hospital says six people wounded in the nightclub shooting are still in critical condition. The Orlando Regional Medical Center said Wednesday that four people are in guarded condition, an improvement from a day early when five people were in that condition. The hospital says they are still treating 25 people there. Doctors have warned that the death toll from the shooting could rise. Forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 people wounded when a gunman opened fire on the Pulse nightclub early Sunday.
Daily Mail - 4 hours ago
A former classmate of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen claims she once saw him in deep conversation with a man who became the first known American suicide bomber in Syria. The friend claimed the conversation between Mateen, who fatally shot 49 people ...
Palm Beach Post - 17 hours ago
A movie was playing on TV, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's former high school classmate remembers, when she arrived at a co-worker's house for a get-together five years ago. The gathering was small — a few more than a dozen people — so she ...
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