Report says wife of Orlando gunman tried to talk him out of attack

Noor Mateen being considered for possible criminal charges

ORLANDO, Fla. – The wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub told officials that she attempted to talk her husband out of the assault.

ABC News reports that Noor Mateen, 30, is now being considered for possible criminal charges as officials believe she knew something about the incident.

Other reports claim that Noor drove her husband to the Pulse Orlando nightclub Sunday morning before the massacre began.

A law enforcement official said investigators who have spoken with the Orlando gunman's wife are looking into whether the two of them were recently at or outside the nightclub he attacked.

Authorities said Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire at the popular gay nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. Mateen was killed by Orlando police. 

The official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said investigators had been told that Mateen and his wife had been at the nightclub on a prior occasion and were trying to confirm the accuracy of that statement.

The official said the FBI has Mateen's phone and will try to use data from it to see if he had visited the club before. The official said investigators have not ruled out charging anyone who may have had advance knowledge of the attack.

"We are going through the killer's life, as I said, especially his electronics, to understand as much as we can about his path and whether there was anyone else involved either in directing him or in assisting him," FBI Director James Comey said.

Kevin West said Mateen contacted him and asked him "in his words, like, what clubs are popping."

Employees at Pulse told ABC News that they recognized Mateen as a regular.

Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg spoke to Mateen's father Tuesday at his Port St. Lucie home and asked Seddique Mateen if his son was gay.

"I don't think so," he said.

Seddique Mateen said his son was married with a wife and child, so he would have noticed.

"Might he have been living a double life?" Milberg asked.

"I don't know," he said.

If Omar Mateen was a closeted homosexual, his father said only person knows for sure.

"What was his personal view, it will be secret because he's dead," Seddique Mateen said.


About the Authors:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.