Orlando shooter's wife deemed 'person of interest' in police investigation

Omar Mateen drove around the Orlando area the night before the nightclub massacre, visiting several places, the mayor said Wednesday as investigators tried to piece together the killer's movements and zeroed in on how much his wife may have known about the plot.

Authorities believe the wife, Noor Salman, knew ahead of time about the plans for the attack that left 49 victims dead, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.

U.S. Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which received a briefing on the investigation into Sunday's massacre, told CNN it appeared Salman had "some knowledge" of what was going on. "She definitely is, I guess you would say, a person of interest right now and appears to be co-operating and can provide us with some important information," King said.

• Orlando shooter's wifeallegedlyknew of attack, could face charges
• Mateen wouldn't let his wife visit her parents,neighbour alleges

Shecould face criminal charges as early as Wednesday after a federal grand jury was convened to study possible wrongdoing by her, a law enforcement source told Reuters.

The FBI has recovered Mateen's phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, the official said. Orlando is nearly a two-hour drive from Mateen's home in Fort Pierce, Fla.

Driving around town

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Mateen drove around on Saturday night before he opened fire at the gay nightclub about 2 a.m. Sunday in an attack that ended with the 29-year-old American-born Muslim being killed by a police SWAT team.

"What I know concretely is that he was driving around that evening and visited several locations," Dyer said.

When asked exactly where Mateen visited, and whether the locations included theme parks as reported in news accounts, Dyer said, "I think it's been pretty accurately depicted on the news." He gave no further details.

A survivor of the massacre, 20-year-old Patience Carter, shed more light on Mateen's thinking, saying he talked about wanting America to "stop bombing my country" a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan.

A number of possible motives and explanations have emerged, with Mateen calling 911 to profess allegiance to ISIS,his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill and abusiveand his father suggesting he hated gays.

Ex-wife of Omar Mateen talks about Orlando

8 years ago

Duration 0:49

Sitora Yusufiy describes spousal abuse she suffered

On Tuesday, the picture grew more complex when a U.S. official said the FBI was looking into a flurry of news reports quoting people as sayingMateenfrequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay datingapps. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and also spoke on condition of anonymity.

• What we know about the Omar Mateen

Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and lashed out, or else was casing the nightclub and trying to find potential victims online.

Father denies son was gay

Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay and said that if he had been in the nightclub before, he may have been "scouting the place."

• Mateen's father condemns shooting, sayshomosexuality an issue for God

Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill and abusive. Amid the latest reports about his club-going, she told CNN: "Well, when we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife and there was a lot of pictures of him."

Omar Mateen's father speaks about shooting

8 years ago

Duration 0:58

Seddique Mateen condemns his son's actions, says homosexuality is an issue for God

"I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about," she said.

Shesaid her ex-husband had facets of his life that he did not share with his family, such as drinking and going to nightclubs. "He did have a different side to him that he could not open up to his father about," Yusufiy told CNN. "It doesn't surprise me that he might be gay."