FBI investigates if Orlando gunman called his wife during nightclub massacre

Killer: Omar Mateen
David Gardner15 June 2016

The FBI is investigating whether the Orlando gunman called his wife in the midst of the gay club shooting spree that left 49 people dead.

Noor Zahi Salman’s phone records may provide vital evidence in a probe into whether she was an accomplice in the massacre.

Omar Mateen’s second wife has already admitted being at her husband’s side as he bought ammunition and even drove him to the Pulse nightclub on a reconnaissance mission before the gun attack, according to reports.

Among the locations she allegedly scouted with her husband was Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World.

Law enforcement officials believe Mateen made at least one call to Salman while holding his victims hostage inside the club in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mourners light candles in honour of the shooting victims 
EPA

Florida prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate Salman, 30, seeking to charge her for failing to tell authorities what she knew.

The mother of Mateen’s three-year-old son has reportedly insisted she tried to persuade her husband to abandon his deadly plot.

However, if it emerges that she spoke to Mateen immediately before or during the rampage and still didn’t sound the alarm that could prove crucial to deciding whether she is charged as an accessory.

FBI analysts are also checking Salman’s computer accounts to examine her communications with Mateen, 29.

Atrocity: gunman Omar Mateen with his wife Noor Zahi Salman and their son

She was spotted yesterday for the first time since the massacre as she returned home to the apartment she shared with Mateen and their son in Fort Pierce, Florida. The couple had been married for at least three years.

Officers escorted her from a car to the front door. After collecting belongings she got back in the car.

Salman’s family home in Rodeo, California, was also raided by the FBI yesterday and her mother, Zahi Salman, 50, was quizzed for more than one hour by three agents.

Salman was Mateen’s second wife. They wed after his 2011 divorce from first wife Sitora Yusifiy, 26, of Boulder, Colorado.

Mateen’s father, Seddique, claimed last night that he knew nothing about his daughter-in-law’s alleged involvement in his son’s terrorist plot.

“I don’t know anything. I will wait till law enforcement officials tell me,” he told reporters at the front door of his four-bedroom home in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Orlando shooting victims

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The FBI said Salman is cooperating fully with the investigation.

Mateen previously worked for security company G4S and footage emerged last night showing him working as a guard during the clean-up operation following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

He is shown talking to a reporter in the 2012 award-winning documentary ‘The Big Fix.'

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