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| FILE - In this June 12, 2016 file photo, law enforcement officials work at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., following the a mass shooting. Audio recordings of 911 calls released Tuesday, Aug. 30, by the Orange County Sheriff's Office show mounting frustration by friends and family members who were texting, calling and video-chatting with trapped patrons of the Pulse nightclub where Omar Mateen opened fire in June. A U.S. law enforcement official says the FBI has arrested the wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter. The official says Noor Salman was taken into custody Monday, Jan. 16, 2017, in the San Francisco area and is due in court Tuesday in California. She's facing charges in Florida including obstruction of justice. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter, who was
extensively questioned by federal agents in the days after the massacre,
has been arrested by the FBI in connection with the attack, authorities
said Monday.
Noor Salman was taken into
custody Monday morning in the San Francisco Bay area and is facing
charges in Florida including obstruction of justice. A Twitter post from
the United States attorney's office in Orlando said Salman will make
her initial court appearance Tuesday morning in Oakland, California.
Noor
Salman moved to California after her husband, Omar Mateen, was killed
in a shootout with SWAT team members during the June 12 massacre at the
Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
FBI agents
repeatedly questioned Salman in the aftermath of the shooting about
whether she had advance knowledge of her husband's plans. Salman told
The New York Times in an interview published last fall that she knew her
husband had watched jihadist videos but that she was "unaware of
everything" regarding his intent to shoot up the club. She also said he
had physically abused her.
"Noor Salman had no
foreknowledge nor could she predict what Omar Mateen intended to do
that tragic night," her attorney, Linda Moreno, said in a statement.
"Noor
has told her story of abuse at his hands. We believe it is misguided
and wrong to prosecute her and that it dishonors the memories of the
victims to punish an innocent person," Moreno said.
Mateen
was the only shooter, and by the time a three-hour standoff with law
enforcement had ended, 49 patrons were killed and another 53 people
required hospitalization.
Mateen pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State group in a 911 call to emergency
officials during the standoff. He also made a series of Facebook posts
and searches before and during the attack.
Salman,
who grew up northeast of San Francisco, wed Mateen in 2011 after the
two met online. They lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the time of the
shooting. Last month, Salman filed a petition in a California court to
change the name of the son she had with Mateen.
"We
said from the beginning, we were going to look at every aspect of this,
of every aspect of this shooter's life to determine not just why did he
take these actions - but who else knew about them? Was anyone else
involved?" Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an MSNBC interview on
Monday.
The Times first reported on the arrest.
Orlando
Police Chief John Mina said in a statement that Salman was facing
accusations of obstruction of justice and "aiding and abetting by
providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization."
"Nothing
can erase the pain we all feel about the senseless and brutal murders
of 49 of our neighbors, friends, family members and loved ones," Mina
said. "But today, there is some relief in knowing that someone will be
held accountable for that horrific crime."
Florida
Gov. Rick Scott said he hoped the arrest "provides some comfort to the
families who are mourning their loved ones," he added.
