US Department of Justice(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Attorney General Loretta Lynch is visiting Orlando Tuesday, 10 days after the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history took place at Pulse, a gay nightclub.
Lynch will receive an on-the-ground briefing of the ongoing investigation into the massacre, in which self-described “Islamic soldier” Omar Mateen killed 49 people in the club, and took hostages, before dying in a gun battle with police.
The high-profile visit follows on the heels of new information released by the FBI Monday, including a transcript of a phone conversation Mateen had with the Orlando Police Department.
References to terrorist organizations were originally redacted from the conversation in order to avoid giving extremists a “publicity platform” for propaganda, but later on Monday, the Justice Department reversed course by confirming that Mateen pledged support to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State.
There is no evidence Mateen received direction from any foreign terrorist group, and the most likely scenario is that he was self-radicalized, according to the FBI.
The document released by the FBI also included an updated timeline of the attack. Mateen entered the club at approximately 2 a.m. and died shortly after 5 a.m., but details about the three hours inside of the club have emerged primarily from survivors of the attack, like Angel Colon, who told ABC News last week about a police officer who pulled him from the floor of the club while Mateen was engaged in a gunfight with other officers, or a man going by the name “Orlando,” who played dead on the floor of the club’s bathroom to survive.
The FBI said that an air conditioning vent was removed at approximately 4:21 a.m., enabling some victims to evacuate the club. At 4:29, the victims told police, the shooter “said he was going to put four vests with bombs on victims within 15 minutes.” At 5:02 a.m., the SWAT team, as well as the hazardous device team, breached the wall of the club.
Meanwhile, the domestic terror attack has split America’s political establishment. The Senate voted down four gun control measures Monday evening, with Democrats and Republicans largely divided along party lines.
The last time a domestic terror incident mobilized the Senate into action was after the San Bernardino, California, shooting in December 2015, when two measures intended to prevent terrorists from being able to buy guns also failed to pass.
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