Mateen wife faces probe

A law enforcement source said the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen’s wife might face criminal charges after a federal grand jury was convened to study possible wrongdoing by her.

Noor Salman, knew of his plans for what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, said the source, who has been briefed on the matter.
Sen. Angus King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which received a briefing on the investigation into Sunday’s massacre, told CNN it appeared Salman had “some knowledge” of what was going on. “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 said.
Salman was with Mateen when he cased possible targets in the past two months, including the Walt Disney World Resort in April, a shopping complex called Disney Springs and the Pulse nightclub in early June, CNN and NBC reported. Salman could not be reached for comment.
The gunman’s father, Seddique Mateen, declined to comment spe cifically on the investigation on Wednesday, saying, “The FBI, they always do a professional job and to the maximum extent of my ability I will support them.”
The younger Mateen, a New York-born US citizen of Afghan heritage, was shot dead by police after a three-hour rampage through the Pulse nightclub. The attack was the deadliest on US soil since the hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
Federal investigators have said Mateen, who was 29 and worked as a security guard, was likely self-radicalized and there was no evidence he received any help or instructions from outside groups such as Daesh.
Salman’s mother, Ekbal Zahi Salman, lives in a middle-class neighborhood in Rodeo, California, about 25 miles (40 km) north of San Francisco. A neighbor said Noor Salman visited her mother only once after she married Mateen.
Noor Salman’s mother “didn’t like him very much. He didn’t allow her (Noor) to come here,” said neighbor Rajinder Chahal. He said he had spoken to Noor Salman’s mother after the Orlando attack and she “was crying, weeping.”
The shooting raised questions about how the United States should respond to the threat of violence from militants at home and abroad. The Federal Bureau of Investigation questioned Mateen in 2013 and 2014 for suspected ties to militants but concluded he did not pose a treat.
Meanwhile, the FBI and US federal prosecutors said Wednesday that threats against Muslims would not be tolerated, after the Orlando attack.

Source: Arab News