Orlando gunman apparently searched Facebook during attack

Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and his wife, Noor Salman, reportedly exchanged text messages during his attack on Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Sunday.

“America and Russian Federation stop bombing the Islamic state”, Mateen wrote, according to the letter. “The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west”.

“In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State in the usa”, Mateen wrote. Mateen pledged loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State during one of these calls.

An official familiar with the timeline told CBS News that Mateen was active on social media before and during the rampage.

Despite mounting pledges of allegiance to ISIS, some say they believe Mateen was actually fueled by struggles with his sexuality – and may have latched on to ISIS as a vehicle for his anger. Other reports have suggested Mateen may have been a homosexual, who had frequented Pulse for years and had accounts with gay dating apps.

Cedeno said he wasn’t interested in Mateen – but his friend was. The center says no one specifically remembered him.

“(Mateen) sent him a picture of his private part, and my friend actually was attracted to him.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are interviewing people who claim they met the gunman on gay dating apps, a law enforcement official said. Hopper said that while he could not discuss the nature of the calls, “I can confirm there were phone calls made, we have them”.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, but the struggle with his humanity, his sexuality, combined with the potential for putting the onus on an organization that’s asking people to do this – asking extremists to do these kinds of things – is an interesting dynamic”, CNN military analyst Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said.

“And that’s the thing that makes this case so extremely hard”. When FBI agents spoke with employees at a gun store in Florida in May, these workers mentioned “an individual who had been in the store days earlier asking about a specific type of body armor”, the bureau said in a statement Friday.

Mateen’s wife has gone into seclusion.

Another key topic for investigators is how much Mateen’s Palestinian-American wife may have known about the plot. Salman told investigators that Mateen told her he had interest in carrying out a jihadist attack – but she denied knowing of any specific plans, it said.

According to one official, she knew “for a while” Mateen had thoughts of wanting to do something violent. Agents investigated him for 10 months beginning in 2013 and then contacted him again the following year as part of a different probe.

Salman texted her husband that she loved him, according to CNN and CBS, and also tried calling him, but could not reach him. The two have been married since 2011 and have a three-year-old son.

Mayor Buddy Dyer said Wednesday that Mateen drove around the Orlando area and “visited several locations”.

The letter detailing Mateen’s Facebook posts and searches in the final hours of his life came to light as grief-stricken Orlando prepared to bury the first of the 49 dead and awaited a visit Thursday from President Barack Obama, who planned to meet with victims’ families and first responders and offer words of solace. “We’re going to come out better on the other side”.