Orlando releases Pulse shooter’s 911 calls after court order
A court has compelled the release of audio from 911 calls made by terrorist Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in the Pulse gay club shooting.
49 people died and more than 50 were injured in the Orlando massacre on June 12, when a gunman opened fire during a Latin night at the Florida gay club. The majority of the victims were LGBT people of colour.
Mateen spoke to authorities on three separate occasions, while victims, witnesses and relatives of those involved made hundreds of calls.
Under Florida state law, recordings and transcripts of 911 calls are routinely made public.
Though portions of some of the Pulse calls have been made available to the public, the City of Orlando has restricted others, arguing that calls depicting suffering shouldn’t be made public.
Following a lawsuit from media organisations , this week Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber ordered that calls made by Mateen be made public immediately.
The judge has not yet ruled on the remaining 232 calls related to the incident, explaining that she needs to hear their content before making a ruling.
In total, Mateen was in contact with authorities for more than 30 minutes between 2:35 AM and 3:26 AM.
The calls are below, via WKMG.
In the calls, Mateen pledges his allegiance to “Islamic State”.
He said: “You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They are killing a lot of innocent people.
“You have to tell the U.S. government to stop bombing. They are killing too many children, they are killing too many women, okay?”
He cites the death of ISIS militant Abu Wahid as his inspiration, telling the negotiator: “They should have not bombed and killed Abu Wahid.
“Do your f**king homework and figure out who Abu Wahid is, okay?”
