FLORIDA

FBI says “no impending charges” in the Orlando gay nightclub mass shooting

Arek Sarkissian

Naples Daily News

ORLANDO — FBI Special Agent Ron Hopper said Wednesday that there are 'no impending charges' against any accomplices in the shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub where 49 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old, self-proclaimed radical jihadist, was killed in a standoff with police as he tried to escape the carnage with other patrons through a hole in a wall.

Hopper, standing with state and local law enforcement about a block from Pulse, dismissed reports that that an ex-wife of Mateen was due to face charges, but he did not rule out of she was involved in planning the mass murder.

'Right now, as we speak, there are no impending charges,' Hopper said. 'If someone is able to be charged in this incident, we will bring them to justice.'

Hopper said the FBI, which is the lead agency on the case, was still investigating whether someone else helped Mateen plan the shooting. He said the FBI also was investigating threats of violence made after the shooting toward the Muslim community.

'I can tell you that we are continuing to pore through voluminous amounts of digital media as well as interviews and other investigative techniques,' Hopper said. 'And at this time I can tell you there's nothing to suggest any other target other than the Pulse nightclub.'

Hopper's comments shed little light on what exactly led up to the night Mateen walked into the club in Orlando on Sunday about 2 a.m., armed with a powerful assault rifle and a semi-automatic handgun. Mateen sprayed bullets into the crowd of roughly 300 people before getting into a gunbattle with an off-duty Orlando police officer who was investigating an underage drinking case outside.

Backup Orlando officers arrived at the club and they chased Mateen into a bathroom, which launched a three hour standoff. A SWAT team armored truck created a hole in a cinder block wall of a bathroom in the club, allowing up to 20 patrons to jump out. Mateen also jumped out and got into another gunbattle with officers outside and was shot dead.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said the scene inside the nightclub was so graphic that even his most seasoned violent crimes investigators took advantage of counseling services that were offered over the past two days. Hundreds of officers were counseled Tuesday and the agency's SWAT team took part Wednesday.

'These are some of the toughest people I've seen,' Mina said. 'People who have seen deaths, homicides, dead infants and car crashes, but no one can prepare for what those officers encountered that night.'

Gov. Rick Scott, speaking at the same bring with Hopper, called for the state and nation to unify itself in the wake of Sunday's attack.

'This was clearly an attack on our gay community. This was clearly an attack on our Hispanic community. It's a terror attack on our nation,' Scott said. 'It's a terror attack on our way of life. Our city and our state have come together as a nation.'