Reports: Orlando killer had plane tickets to SF

Omar Mateen was married to a woman from Rodeo. Omar Mateen was married to a woman from Rodeo. Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 87 Caption Close Reports: Orlando killer had plane tickets to SF 1 / 87 Back to Gallery

The gunman who shot and killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando this month bought plane tickets to travel to San Francisco one day before the massacre, according to media reports.

Omar Mateen bought tickets for himself, his wife Noor Zahi Salman, and his child to travel to San Francisco from West Palm Beach in July, CNN reported Tuesday.

A day after the purchase, he killed 49 people and left 53 injured after he opened fire at the Pulse Orlando nightclub on June 12. Mateen, 29, died during an exchange of gunfire with police.

It was not clear why Mateen made travel plans beforehand.

Mateen’s wife is a Bay Area native who grew up in Rodeo. Salman married Mateen, her second husband, around 2013 and moved with him to Fort Pierce, Fla., an Atlantic Coast town 120 miles southeast of Orlando.

She was being investigated by the FBI in connection with the shooting.

Salman, 30, had been living in Chicago, but moved back to Rodeo shortly before her 2009 divorce, according to Contra Costa County Superior Court records. She studied at the now-defunct Heald College, a for-profit business school, and later worked at Kmart in Pinole and a grocery store in Richmond until 2010, according to her online resume.

A neighbor, Sarwan Kaur, said Salman’s mother was upset that her daughter almost never visited after her marriage to Mateen. Mateen’s first wife, Sitora Yusifiy, has told reporters that he was abusive and mentally unstable.

Salman reportedly told investigators she did not know about the planned attack. She also said she pleaded with Mateen to stay before he left their Fort Pierce home carrying a bag of guns before the shooting, according to CNN.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Kimberly Veklerov and Evan Sernoffsky contributed to this report.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno