According to other media reports, the wife of the gunman responsible for taking 49 lives and injuring countless others at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning [June 12] could soon be charged in connection with the shooting.
Officials say Noor Salman, the 30-year old wife of the gunman, knew something about what was to occur well in advance. However, Salman maintains she tried to talk her husband out of the massacre before it took place.
According to Reuters news agency, prosecutors are looking to charge Salman as an accessory on 49 counts of murder each, 53 counts of attempted murder each, failure to notify law enforcement of a coming attack, and lying to federal agents. They also report that a federal grand jury has already been convened and could bring charges upon Salman as early as today [June 15, 2016].
Salman revealed she was with her husband when he cased out possible targets for his attack during the past two months, including the Disney World resort in April, a shopping complex called Disney Springs, then Pulse nightclub in early June.
“It appears she had some knowledge of what was going on,” says US Senator Angus King, of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “She definitely is, I guess you would say, a person of interest right now and appears to be cooperating and can provide us with some important information,” King told CNN.
Investigators believe the gunman, who was shot dead by police officers following a three-hour standoff at the Pulse nightclub, was a “self-radicalized” individual. There is no evidence suggesting he received any outside aid or instruction from groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS).
