FBI to release transcript of calls between Orlando gunman, police
ORLANDO, Fla. -- U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday that the FBI will release a partial transcript of the conversations between the gunman within the Pulse gay nightclub and Orlando police negotiators.
Lynch said in interviews Sunday on several news shows that the FBI would release a partial, printed transcript of the conversations between gunman Omar Mateen from within the Pulse nightclub and Orlando police negotiators. Armed with a semi-automatic weapon, Mateen went on a bloody rampage at the club June 12 that left 49 people dead and 53 others seriously hurt. Mateen died in a hail of police gunfire after police stormed the venue.
Lynch said she would be traveling to Orlando on Tuesday to meet with investigators. She will also be meeting with first responders, local law enforcement, and victims of the attack to offer them support in the aftermath of such violence.
Investigators are still interviewing witnesses, and looking to learn more about Mateen and others who knew him well, including members of his mosque.
A lawyer for the Council of American-Islamic Relations said that the FBI interviewed a man who worshipped at the same mosque as Mateen. Omar Saleh said he sat in on the Friday interview at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, the same mosque that Mateen attended near his home. Saleh said the interview lasted about 30 minutes.
Speaking to CBS News' "Face The Nation," Lynch said that a key goal of the investigation was to determine why Mateen targeted the gay community. The victims were predominantly gay and Hispanic since it was "Latin night" at Pulse.
"We know that he apparently had some concerns or issues with the LGBT community," she said. "It was also Latin night at the club. So again, we're very concerned about the motivations that led him to that particular club at that particular place."
Lynch noted on "Face the Nation" that detectives aim to communicate developments in the investigation when appropriate.
"We do want to be as transparent as possible in this investigation so people can see not only what he was thinking, what he was doing, but also the kind of information that we're looking at. As more facts come to light, the FBI is sorting through conflicting information," she said.
At this point, Lynch said investigators do not have any information that reveals Mateen was being directed from overseas terrorist networks. Investigators, however, have found evidence of online radicalization.
"Over the course of time, he -- like sadly too many individuals -- was consuming radical jihadist information online and was becoming radicalized here in the United States," the attorney general added
New details are coming to light about the violent history of Mateen.
Newly released documents show that Mateen talked about bringing a gun to a college class in 2007, shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings.
A supervisor recommended Mateen be kicked out of that class, calling his behavior "at best extremely disturbing."
School records reveal Mateen's behavior problems began as early as the third grade, where he would talk about sex and violence.
He was suspended a total of 48 days before graduating high school.
Prior to the Orlando shooting, an official told CBS News, Mateen was active on dating sites, searching for both men and women.
One woman is coming forward, telling CBS News correspondent David Begnaud that Mateen stalked her after meeting her at a courthouse.
"He came right in front of me, and he looked at me, and he said, 'You're gonna be mine. I want to go out with you,'" she said. "And I said, 'No, get out of my face.'"
The woman said that she doesn't think the Orlando attack was just about terrorism.
"He got rejected," she said. "He didn't get what he wanted. He wanted somebody. He wanted something. He got rejected, and that turned him off. That made that switch that made him angry. It made him mad. It set him off."
CBS News has not been able to independently corroborate her story but has no reason to believe it's not true.
There is at least one other woman who has come forward, telling The Associated Press she too was stalked by Mateen.
The woman CBS News spoke to said she never reported the behavior because she only encountered Mateen in public places.
Meanwhile, Orlando residents paused throughout the day -- at a bar in the early morning hours, at morning church services and at an evening candlelight vigil in the heart of downtown -- to remember the victims of the worse mass shooting in modern U.S. history, exactly a week later.
"We are hurting. We are exhausted, confused, and there is so much grief," said Larry Watchorn, a ministerial intern, during a sermon at Joy Metropolitan Community Church in Orlando, whose congregants are predominantly gay. "We come to have our tears wiped away and our strength renewed."
At the Parliament House, a gay club and resort near downtown Orlando, the music stopped as patrons paused for a moment of silence at 2 a.m., the time Mateen started shooting at Pulse just a few miles away.
Megan Currie, a Joy Metropolitan Community Church member, said during a Sunday morning sermon that Mateen's attack was an effort to put fear in the gay community.
"This was a hate crime and this happened because someone was homophobic," Currie said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott described the attack as "devastating" while praying at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. He said the gunman targeted "two very vulnerable populations."
"But here is the positive out of it ... people have come together," Scott said. "There are so many people who have done so many wonderful acts."
Around the city, people left balloons, flowers, pictures and posters at a makeshift memorial in front of the city's new performing arts center and at Orlando Regional Medical Center where 49 white crosses were emblazoned with red hearts and the names of the victims.
The crosses were built by a Chicago carpenter with a history of constructing crosses for victims of mass shootings. Greg Zanis drove from Illinois to Orlando last week and installed the crosses at the medical center, where many of the 53 shooting victims who survived were taken for treatment.
He said Sunday that the crosses are a message for people of all faiths: "Quit judging and start loving."