6 Months After the Orlando Attack, Has the FBI Forgotten About the Terrorist’s Wife?
Six months ago, 29-year-old Omar Mateen walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and committed the deadliest single-shooter mass shooting in American history.
The ISIS-inspired Mateen — born in New York to Afgan parents — stormed into the LGBT club on June 12 and massacred 49 people, wounding 53 more.
Evidence remains that his second wife and now-widow, Noor Salman, was an accomplice to the crime. Yet, she remains free and is believed to be in hiding somewhere in the United States.
For reasons unclear, federal authorities have not yet pressed charges against Salman and have kept the American people in the dark concerning this case since June.
Here’s what we know about the Palestinian-born Salman’s ties to the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11.
Before the attack
Before the shooting, Salman reportedly drove with her husband all the way to Orlando — an hour drive from their home in Fort Pierce — to case several sites. That included the Pulse nightclub, she admitted to the FBI in the aftermath of the attacks.
At around the same timeframe, she was with Mateen when he stocked up on ammunition. Prior to the jihad at Pulse nightclub, Mateen added Salman to his life-insurance policy and made sure she had access to his bank accounts, additional reporting states.
The night of terror
Salman, 30, reportedly told the FBI that on the night of the attack that she feared her husband would do something horrible. But she did not alert authorities.
Moreover, Mateen specifically told his wife he was going to “carry out a jihadist attack.” Salman, however, has denied any prior knowledge of the Orlando plot.
“FBI investigators don’t believe Noor Salman was a co-conspirator in the attack that killed 49 people Sunday morning at Pulse,” CNN reported.
After the attack
Noor Salman reappeared in public view a few days later. With a grey sweater pulled over her face, she walked into the home she shared with Mateen and their 3-year-old son to gather their belongings.
Local news outlet WFTV reported on June 14 that Salman could be on the verge of arrest and charged as an accessory to the crime, but that arrest never happened.
On June 20, Attorney General Loretta Lynch shockingly revealed that she had no idea about Salman’s whereabouts. “I believe she was going to travel but I do not exactly know her location now,” Lynch stated. Her statement led to speculation that Salman had fled the country for Jordan or the West Bank. But it appears she is still somewhere in the United States.
The interview
Noor Salman broke her long silence in an exclusive interview with The New York Times on Nov. 1.
“She has moved three times since the attack, hoping to avoid the news media, and asked that her current location not be disclosed,” the Times story, with a dateline of “Washington,” reported.
Salman still denies any involvement or advance knowledge of the jihadi onslaught. That is in direct conflict with previous reports.
“A law enforcement official told ABC News that she may have known something about the incident in advance but claims she tried to talk him out of the assault,” ABCNews.com reported on June 14.
She admitted in the NYT interview she knew Mateen had shown increasing signs of radicalization. Officials who secured his electronic records said he would frequently watch sermons by the late al Qaeda preacher Anwar Al Awlaki, and ISIS propaganda.
The New York Times positions Salman as a victim of Mateen’s domestic abuse who was simply “too busy trying to survive.” Nowhere in the interview does she discuss her reported comments to federal officials about casing possible attack sites with her late husband, and other evidence connecting her to the crime, claiming her lawyer would not let her discuss it.
“How can someone be capable of that?” Salman told the Times, concluding her interview, having addressed none of the circumstantial evidence connecting her to the crime.
What’s next?
A 2013 study of terror incidents in the United States and Europe found that in 64 percent of cases, relatives and/or friends had advance knowledge of the coming terror. Is Noor Salman a member of the 64 percent?
The FBI has not updated any information pertaining to Noor Salman’s status since late June. There is no publicly available information regarding a possible investigation, and when Conservative Review contacted the FBI to ask about any update to the case, a spokesperson said the Pulse investigation is still ongoing, and that policy does not permit them to comment on any ongoing investigation.
Our government has left the American people completely in the dark about a possible co-conspirator to the worst terror attack since 9/11. (For more from the author of “6 Months After the Orlando Attack, Has the FBI Forgotten About the Terrorist’s Wife?” please click HERE)
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