Attorney general visiting Orlando in wake of deadly attack

Lynch made the comments at a news conference Tuesday in Orlando, where she traveled to meet with prosecutors, first responders and victims of the worst mass shooting in modern USA history.

As for what motivated Mateen, Hopper said that authorities have no evidence that a foreign terrorist group directed his violent plot.

The old version had several words scrubbed and instead read: “I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]”.

Later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reversed course and issued a full transcript of Mateen’s 50-second 911 call.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday released partial transcripts of the 911 phone calls made by Orlando “lone wolf” shooter Omar Mateen during the Pulse nightclub attack which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded in the worst mass shooting in United States history.

The transcript also shows Mateen spoke to the dispatcher in Arabic and that he pledged allegiance to an organization and an individual during the call, but the transcript does not include those names.

The shooting has fostered discussion about USA government efforts to identify and thwart individuals bent on violence – Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI three times since 2013 as part of two separate investigations and placed on a terror watch list – but also about whether stiffer gun control laws are needed.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, she said she would be open to releasing the audio of Mateen’s 911 call and possibly other details from the investigation. Investigators have done hundreds of interviews, including with family members, and are working in particular to determine how much knowledge his wife had of the plot.

“Whenever you look at someone’s motivation or intent, whether living or whether they’re dead, you look at their actions and their activities surrounding the event”, Lynch said today while visiting law enforcement and first responders in Orlando.

Luis Burbano felt his bones shake when bullets started flying early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Burbano, who rushed to the aid of the injured, is now unable to sleep and struggling to understand why he was spared. “Those killings are on the suspect, on the suspect alone in my mind”. He stressed that the officers “acted heroically”.

And, he said, police were in and out of the club rescuing victims throughout the three hours between when police gunfire drove Mateen into the bathroom and the final encounter with the gunman after a SWAT team blew a hole in the wall and stormed in.

“The timeline released based upon radio communications clearly shows our officers were within the club within minutes and engaged the suspect in gunfire and that’s important because that engagement and that initial entry caused him to retreat, stop shooting and barricade himself in the bathroom with hostages”.

At the same time, crisis negotiators were trying to talk to Mateen to end the situation without further bloodshed, and the SWAT team was setting up for its entry, Mina said.