The wife of the author of the Orlando massacre of 2016, in which 49 people and dozens were injured in a gay nightclub, had known his plans for some time and so he confessed in his interrogation with the FBI, local newspaper reported today. Orlando Sentinel.
An agent of the FBI collected in a document of twelve pages, signed by Noor Salman, his statements during 18 hours of interview after the terrorist attack and massive shooting that shocked the country and the world.
Salman said that when her husband, Omar Mateen, left home that June 12 she already knew that she was heading to Orlando to perpetrate a massacre at the Pulse nightclub and that she had seen how she prepared the attack for many months.
That testimony was given today by The Orlando Sentinel after the federal authorities disclosed it discreetly at the end of December in a series of documents on the case.
“My fears had become reality and he did what he said he was going to do, I refused to believe it, I could not believe that my son’s father was going to hurt other people,” Salman told the Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. Investigations (FBI).
Salman’s defense has requested that these statements not be included in the trial, scheduled for March, on the grounds that he was in custody when he made them and had not been adequately informed of his rights (the Miranda Warning).
Government lawyers say, however, that Salman was not in custody, that he was free to leave at any time and that his statements were voluntary.
Salman faces charges for helping a terrorist organization and for obstructing justice.
Omar Mateen, a security guard who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), came armed with an assault rifle and an automatic pistol to the Pulse club when a Latino party was held and fired indiscriminately.
He killed 49 people and wounded at least 68 before the forces of order took him down.
The widow’s lawyers claim that she was not aware of Mateen’s plans or his connections to Islamic terrorist groups.
The US authorities determined that the massacre was a terrorist attack.
