Wife of Orlando nightclub gunman arrested outside SF

More than half a year after Omar Mateen massacred 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, his widow was arrested in the Bay Area and accused of assisting in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, officials said.

Federal agents raided Noor Zahi Salman’s home in Rodeo early Monday, arresting the 30-year-old on charges of aiding and abetting by providing material support to a terrorist organization, and obstruction of justice in connection with the June 12 shooting rampage, the FBI and law enforcement officials in Orlando said.

“Federal authorities have been working tirelessly on this case for more than seven months, and we are grateful that they have seen to it that some measure of justice will be served in this act of terror that has affected our community so deeply,” Orlando Police Chief John Mina said in a statement.

Noor Zahi Salman, left, told the FBI that she had driven her husband Omar Mateen to the Pulse at some point before the night of the attack and had been with him when he bought ammunition two days before he killed 49 club-goers and wounded 53, NBC News first reported, citing an unnamed senior law enforcement official. less Noor Zahi Salman, left, told the FBI that she had driven her husband Omar Mateen to the Pulse at some point before the night of the attack and had been with him when he bought ammunition two days before he ... more Image 1 of / 92 Caption Close Wife of Orlando nightclub gunman arrested outside SF 1 / 92 Back to Gallery

FBI agents took Salman into custody at her family’s four-bedroom home on Donald Drive, where she grew up with her sisters and mother who emigrated from the Palestinian territories.

Salman married Mateen — her second husband — in a small ceremony officiated by a Berkeley imam in Hercules in 2011. The two later had a child and moved to Fort Pierce, Fla., an Atlantic coast town more than 100 miles south of Orlando, where Mateen worked as a private security guard.

The FBI began investigating Mateen in May 2013 after he told co-workers he had family connections to al Qaeda and Hezbollah. Authorities took him off a terrorist watch list in March 2014 after the investigation ended without charges.

In an interview with the New York Times, Salman said that six months after their wedding, she became a target of a flood of physical abuse by her husband.

“Noor Salman had no foreknowledge nor could she predict what Omar Mateen intended to do that tragic night,” her attorney, Linda Moreno, said in a statement Monday. “Noor has told her story of abuse at his hands. We believe it is misguided and wrong to prosecute her and that it dishonors the memories of the victims to punish an innocent person.”

In the days after the rampage, federal investigators began extensively questioning Salman. She had told investigators that she had driven her husband to the nightclub at some point leading up the attack, and was with him when he bought ammunition two days before the shooting spree, according to several reports citing anonymous senior law enforcement officials.

The woman reportedly told authorities during the interviews that she urged her 29-year-old husband to not commit the massacre.

But around last call at the crowded gay nightclub that was hosting a Latin night, a heavily armed Mateen stormed the building, unleashing a torrent of gunfire that left 49 dead and 53 injured.

Mateen died in a shootout with police after a nearly 3-hour standoff at the club, during which officials said he declared allegiance to the Islamic State.

“You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq,” Mateen said in a 911 call from the nightclub during the shooting spree. “They are killing a lot of innocent people. What am I to do here when my people are getting killed over there?”

At one point during the standoff, Mateen sent his wife a text message, asking if she had seen the news of the attack, the New York Times reported. When she replied that she had not, Mateen responded in his final message to his wife, “I love you babe,” Salman told the paper.

President Obama had characterized the attack as an example of homegrown extremism, where an assailant is inspired and radicalized, often by materials found online.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in an interview on MSNBC Monday that investigators are continuing to examine what led to the massacre.

“We said from the beginning we were going to look at every aspect of this case, every aspect of this shooter’s life — to determine not just why did he take these actions, but who else knew about them, was anyone else involved, is there any other accountability that needs to be had here in this case,” she said.

The violence shocked many, particularly members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities around the country and world that were beginning a series of summer of Pride celebrations.

In San Francisco, LGBT community members left memorials for the victims, while others devoted a large part of the summer of Pride celebrations to the victims of the attack.

“I hope today’s news provides some comfort to the families who are mourning their loved one,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement.

Attorney Keith Altman, who represents families of some of the victims, said the length of time it took to arrest Salman did not bother him.

“If it takes them some time to get it right, get it right,” he said. “This is high profile and the last thing you want to do is get it wrong.”

Salman is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Oakland at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before the case moves to U.S. District Court in Florida, where the charges will be filed. It was not immediately clear who was given custody of her child.

Those at the Rodeo home where Salman was arrested Monday morning refused to answer reporters’ questions.

“She doesn’t want to talk to nobody,” an unidentified woman said, referring to Salman’s mother, before she closed the door and left the house several hours later.

Neighbor Glauber Franchi, 38, said he heard several cars pull up to the home of Salman’s family and car doors slamming about 7:30 a.m., but he didn’t see the woman being arrested.

“The dogs started barking,” Franchi said. “I knew something was going on, but it didn’t seem like anything major. ... This is a quiet neighborhood, so you usually don’t have that many cars.”

Franchi and several other neighbors were unaware that Salman was staying at the house. They said they hadn’t seen her come or go since the shooting.

“It’s got to be tough on the mom,” Franchi said. “They’re a quiet family. Very private.”