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| Omar Mateen’s Wife Under Scrutiny by F.B.I., Official Says | Omar Mateen’s Wife Under Scrutiny by F.B.I., Official Says |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| WASHINGTON — F.B.I. investigators suspect that the wife of the Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, might have been aware that he was plotting an attack, and the agency is trying to determine her level of involvement, a senior law enforcement official said Tuesday. | |
| The wife, Noor Zahi Salman, told the F.B.I. that she had driven him to the Pulse nightclub at some point before the attack and that she had also been with him when he bought ammunition, the official said. But she also said she had tried to talk him out of waging an attack, the official said. | |
| Her statements were first reported by NBC News. | Her statements were first reported by NBC News. |
| “There’s an indication that she was with him in certain parts of the process, and we’re sorting through it,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is at an early stage. “We don’t know what’s true and what’s not.” | “There’s an indication that she was with him in certain parts of the process, and we’re sorting through it,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is at an early stage. “We don’t know what’s true and what’s not.” |
| Ms. Salman is not in custody, the official said. While a person who withholds knowledge of a crime could face criminal charges, she is not facing imminent arrest, and no decisions have been made on whether she might be prosecuted, the official said. | |
| Mr. Mateen’s first marriage ended in divorce, and his ex-wife said after the shooting rampage that he had beaten her during their time together and isolated her from family and friends. | |
| In Northern California, neighbors of Ms. Salman’s family gave a similar account of Mr. Mateen’s controlling ways. | |
| Ms. Salman’s mother, Ekbal Zahi Salman, had complained to a neighbor that Ms. Salman, her eldest daughter, wanted to come home to visit her parents and younger sisters, but that Mr. Mateen had forbidden her. Only once did he allow her to return to her family home in Rodeo, a San Francisco suburb, and that was a few years ago when her father was dying, neighbors said. | |
| Jasbinder Chahal, a friend of the family who lives across the street, said that not long ago, Ms. Salman’s mother had told her that Ms. Salman, her young son and Mr. Mateen went to Disney World, in Orlando. | |
| On Monday night, Ms. Chahal said, she visited the Salman house and found the mother crying. “She can’t contact her daughter,” Ms Chahal said. “She doesn’t know where she is. She’s texting, and she’s not returning her texts.” | |
| Ms. Salman grew up in a devout Muslim family originally from a Palestinian community, and every summer the family returned to there. The mother wears a hijab, and the family observes Ramadan. | |
| This was Noor Salman’s second marriage. Hardeep Ahluwalia, another neighbor, said that years ago, the family had rented out its house, returning to the Middle East. It was around that time, he said, that Ms. Salman’s parents arranged a marriage for her. She may have been 19 or 20, Ms. Chahal said. The marriage did not work out. | |
| Ms. Chahal said that inside the Salmans’ avocado-colored two-story home, Ms. Salman’s mother had kept a close watch on her four daughters, driving them to school and picking them up. None of the girls were allowed to drive, Ms. Chahal said. And “they did not allow boys to go to the house,” she said. |