FBI: Orlando Gunman Called Tsarnaev Brothers His 'Homeboys'
BOSTON (CBS) -- In a media release Monday afternoon, the FBI's Boston Division said the gunman in the mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub that killed 49 people and injured more than 50 called the Boston Marathon bombers his "homeboys" in one of the 911 calls he made from the scene of the massacre.
In the release, the FBI reiterated that there was not believed to be any connection between the shooter, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, and Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The Tsarnaev brothers detonated two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing 3 and wounding hundreds, and later killed MIT Police Officer Sean Collier.
"At this point in time, all evidence collected to date shows no connection between Mateen and the Tsarnaev brothers," the release said.
In a press briefing Monday afternoon, FBI Director James Comey said that Mateen and 911 operators spoke on three different calls while Mateen was carrying out his attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
"During the calls, he said he was doing this for the leader of ISIL, who he named and pledged loyalty to, but he also appeared to claim solidarity with the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing and solidarity with a Florida man who died as a suicide bomber in Syria for Al-Nusra, a group in conflict with the so-called Islamic State," said Comey.
Comey said that the Tsarnaevs, as well as the Florida man, were not inspired by ISIS, adding confusion to Mateen's motives.
Comey also said that the FBI was "highly confident that this killer was radicalized and at least in some part through the internet."
The FBI's Boston Division also said in the release that they had no credible threats to the Boston area that were connected to the Orlando attack, and said they were sharing information in real time with the FBI's Tampa division.
