During his three-hour rampage in an Orlando gay nightclub on June 12 that left 49 people dead, gunman Omar Mateen called 911 and spoke with police negotiators, according to partially redacted phone transcripts released by the FBI on Monday.
According to the FBI’s timeline of the attack, Mateen called 911 dispatchers from inside the Pulse nightclub at approximately 2:35 a.m. The 50-second phone call, in which Mateen declared his allegiance to an extremist organization, was detailed by the FBI in a news release, with the name of the organization omitted:
Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD)
Shooter (OM)
OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.
OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic]
OD: What?
OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the Prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.
OD: What’s your name?
OM: My name is I pledge allegiance to [omitted].
OD: Ok, what’s your name?
OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].
OD: Alright, where are you at?
OM: In Orlando.
OD: Where in Orlando?
[End of call.]
Al Bawaba previously reported Mateen declared allegiance to Daesh during his 911 call. Following the rampage, Daesh's media outlet Amfaq boasted Mateen had pledged allegiance to the group, whilie pro-Daesh Twitter accounts celebrated the shootings.
The FBI also released summaries of three phone calls that took place between Mateen and crisis negotiators at 2:48 a.m., 3:03 a.m. and 3:24 a.m, lasting a total of 28 minutes. In the calls, Mateen “identified himself as an Islamic soldier” then threatened to detonate a suicide vest and explosives planted in a vehicle outside the nightclub. Authorities reportedly found no explosives.
Police received numerous emergency calls from victims within the club, which authorities say they won't release to the public. “While the FBI will not be releasing transcripts of OPD [Orlando Police Department] communication with victims, significant information obtained from those victims allowed OPD to gain knowledge of the situation inside Pulse,” read Monday’s news release.
Read the partial transcripts here.
