ORLANDO, Fla. — Omar Mateen drove around the Orlando area the night before the nightclub massacre, visiting several places, the mayor said Wednesday as investigators tried to piece together the killer's movements and zeroed in on how much his wife may have known about the plot.
An official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe the wife, Noor Salman, knew ahead of time about the plans for the attack that left 49 victims dead, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.
Investigators have spoken extensively with her and are working to establish whether she recently accompanied Mateen to the Pulse club, said a second official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. The official said investigators have not ruled out charging others, including Salman.
The FBI has recovered Mateen's phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, the official said. Orlando is nearly a two-hour drive from Mateen's home in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Mateen drove around on Saturday night before he opened fire at the gay nightclub about 2 a.m. Sunday in an attack that ended with the 29-year-old American-born Muslim being killed by a police SWAT team.
"What I know concretely is that he was driving around that evening and visited several locations," Dyer said.
When asked exactly where Mateen visited, and whether the locations included theme parks as reported in news accounts, Dyer said, "I think it's been pretty accurately depicted on the news." He gave no further details.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
