![]() Mateen was not under investigation at the time of Sunday’s shooting and was not under surveillance, Hopper said. “Those interviews turned out to be inconclusive, so there was nothing to keep the investigation going,” Hopper said. The FBI interviewed him in 20 after he expressed sympathy for a suicide bomber, Hopper said. Also, there was no claim that the attack was directed, just an after-the-fact claim the gunman was an ISIS fighter, she said.Īt a Sunday afternoon news briefing, FBI Assistant Special Agent Ronald Hopper said the agency was aware of Mateen. She said the language is inconsistent with previous ISIS announcements and that the Arabic word for gay was used rather than an epithet normally used by ISIS. Mateen had worked since 2007 as a security officer at G4S Secure Solutions, one of the world’s largest private security companies.Ī message posted in Arabic on a dark web site associated with the ISIS news agency Amaq said “the armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida and that bore more than a 100 killed and wounded was carried out by an Islamic state fighter.”īut CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz, who translated the message and closely monitors ISIS messaging, cautioned about taking the message at face value. He was religious but she said she doesn’t think his religion played in to the attack. She also said Mateen had a history with steroids. She said Mateen was bipolar, although he was not formally diagnosed. Mateen was a normal husband at the beginning of their marriage but started abusing her after a few months, she said. Sitora Yusufiy, interviewed by CNN in Boulder, Colorado, said she and Mateen were together about four months, though it took a long time to complete the divorce because they lived in different parts of the country after separating. He was married in 2009 to a woman originally from Uzbekistan, according to the marriage license, but he filed documents to end the marriage in 2011. Sunday and started shooting, killing 49 people and wounding at least 53, officials said.Īfter a standoff of about three hours, while people trapped inside the club desperately called and messaged friends and relatives, police crashed into the building with an armored vehicle and stun grenades and killed Mateen. Mateen carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the packed Pulse club about 2 a.m. * Mateen’s ex-wife said she thinks he was mentally ill. * Mateen called 911 during the attack to pledge allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers, according to a U.S. Muslim leaders: Extremists don’t define us.Obama confronts Trump on ‘radical Islam’.The legislation also faces long odds in the chamber. We must drive out hate and inequities that contribute to the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women - especially transgender women of color.”īiden also called on the Senate to “swiftly” pass the Equality Act, which would bar discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “We must also acknowledge gun violence’s particular impact on LGBTQ+ communities across our nation. “Pulse Nightclub is hallowed ground,” Biden said in the statement. Since the shooting, Biden has “stayed in touch” with survivors and victims families, he said in the statement Saturday.īiden said in the statement that he will soon sign a bill that will make the nightclub a national memorial. To mark the five-year anniversary of the mass shooting, the victims are being honored with a number of events, including a remembrance ceremony Saturday. Biden also called on the Justice Department to put forward “model” red flag law legislation, which it issued earlier this week.Ī lone shooter at the gay Florida club killed 49 people in June 2016, when Biden was serving as vice president. In April, Biden went it alone on gun reform, issuing executive actions to slow gun violence, including reforms aimed at reining in so-called ghost guns, and ordering the DOJ to produce a new annual report on gun trafficking. At least 13 people were injured in a shooting in Austin, Texas, early Saturday. Biden has repeatedly called for gun reform legislation in the wake of mass shootings this year, including ones in Indianapolis and San Jose, Calif. ![]()
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