Tag Archives: Orlando

PULSE Shooting Memorial in Orlando, FL Vandalized By White Supremacist

PULSE Nightclub Massacre Memorial in Orlando, FL Vandalized By White Supremacist

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The Pulse Nightclub Massacre memorial mural on the walls of local LGBT community gathering place in Orlando, FL  The Center has been vandalized and its likely to be the work of the white supremacists group The Patriot Front.

Stickers and leaflets were placed on the mural, covering the Pulse logo.

The Patriot Front is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white nationalist hate group.” According to the SPLC, the group was formed in the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, and like their not-so-distant cousins the neo-Nazis, they also call for the formation of a white ethnostate.

Orlando Weekly also reported that The Center’s phone lines had been cut. The LGBT aid organization was unable to field calls from those in need during the pandemic.

On June 12, 2016 Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse Nightclub leaving 49 dead and 53 injured. He later pledged allegiance to ISIS,  saying that the shooting was motivated by Islamic extremism.

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Found NOT GUILTY

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Found NOT GUILTY

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Via The Orlando Sentinel

“Noor Salman is not guilty of helping her husband, Omar Mateen, carry out the mass shooting that claimed 49 lives at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016, a jury decided Friday. The 12-member jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for about 12 hours over three days.

Salman was also acquitted of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accused her of lying to the FBI agents who investigated her husband’s mass murder, which he carried out in support of a foreign terror group, the Islamic State.

Had she been convicted, Salman, 31, would have faced up to life in prison. Prosecutors sought to prove Salman helped Mateen prepare for the attack, joining him as he scouted possible targets and bought guns and ammunition. They also said Salman concocted a cover story to tell Mateen’s mother after he left their Fort Pierce apartment to commit the attacks.”

Sources who followed the trail state that some of the prosecutorial evidence didn’t hold up under scrutiny. and that he police didn’t provide a  convincing admission of guilt. It will also be interesting to hear from jurors how they weighed the information that Mateen’s father was an FBI informant.

Speculation is that the prosecution damaged itself badly by withholding that information.

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Found NOT GUILTY

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Demands Mistrial, Father-In-Law Was FBI Informant

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CNN reports:

Attorneys for Noor Salman called for a dismissal of charges or a mistrial, saying that new details from prosecutors reveal that Pulse gunman Omar Mateen’s father was an FBI informant who is currently under a criminal investigation.

According to a motion filed by the defense, Assistant US Attorney Sara Sweeney sent an email on Saturday to the defense — in the middle of Salman’s trial — that stated Seddique Mateen was a confidential FBI source from 2005 through June 2016.

The email also stated that Seddique Mateen is being investigated for money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan after documents were found in his home on June 12, 2016, the day of the Pulse attack. The dates of the money transfers were between March 16, 2016 and June 5, 2016, according to the email.

Seddique Mateen was a FBI confidential human source at various points in time between January 2005 and June 2016.

Salman is accused of obstruction of justice, as FBI agents say she lied to them in the hours after the Pulse nightclub attack, and charges of aiding and abetting Mateen’s allegiance to ISIS.

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Found NOT GUILTY

PULSE Shooter’s Wife Loses Bid To Move Trial After Claiming Impartial Jurors Could Not Be Found

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Via USA Today:

The widow of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen will stand trial in Orlando, home to the nation’s second deadliest mass shooting in modern history, after a federal judge ruled staying in the city wouldn’t prevent a fair trial.

Lawyers for Noor Salman had fought to move the case outside the city, arguing intense media coverage of the shooting could prompt bias in potential jurors. U.S. District Judge Paul Byron denied the request, court documents show.

Salman has been behind bars for nearly a year since her January arrest. She’s facing federal charges of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting by providing material support to a terrorist organization. If convicted, Salman could face life in prison.

Venue changes are rare, and the burden on the accused is heavy. Even Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was denied a change of venue. He is appealing his convictions and death sentence, arguing the judge in his case should have moved his trial.

Salman is scheduled to be tried on March 1.

OMFG! – Trump Opens Campaign Office Across The Street From Site of the PULSE Nightclub Massacre

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Trump Opens Campaign Office Across The Street From Site of the PULSE Nightclub Massacre in Orlando

Donald Trump who spoke on Friday, the two-month anniversary of the Orlando PULSE nightclub massacre, at a gathering of anti-gay Christian conservatives and evangelical pastors” has had the audacity to open a campaign field office directly across the street from the shuttered nightspot where Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old Afghan-American security guard, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others LGBT patrons in a terrorist – hate crime attack.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

The location across the street from Pulse – a gay club where 49 people, the majority of them Hispanic, were killed – could be seen as problematic for a campaign struggling so far with Hispanics and the LGBT community.

Trump has been criticized this week by LGBT groups, including Equality Florida, for attending an evangelical pastors event on International Drive that they described as “an anti-LGBT rally.”

Trump – who said the day after the Pulse attack, “Our nation stands together in solidarity with the members of Orlando’s LGBT community” and stressed the danger of ISIS –  told the Sentinel Thursday he did not know there were protests.

The gall and insensitivity of this mega-manical douchebag knows no bounds.

FBI Finds Absolutely No Evidence That Orlando Killer Omar Mateen Was Gay

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Omar Maten Was Not Gay

Via the Los Angeles Times

Since the shooting at an Orlando nightclub last week that left 49 people dead, reports have emerged that gunman Omar Mateen frequented the gay club, used gay dating apps and had gay lovers.

But the FBI has found no evidence so far to support claims by those who say Mateen had gay lovers or communicated on gay dating apps, several law enforcement officials said.

Mateen, 29, told police negotiators he had carried out the shooting that began at 2 a.m. June 12 and ended, after a three-hour standoff, when he was killed by police.

He claimed the shooting was carried out in allegiance to the militant group Islamic State, as a message to halt U.S. bombing in Iraq and Syria.

Several Pulse regulars have come forward in the days since the shooting, claiming to have seen Mateen at the club or to have been contacted by him on the gay dating apps Grindr, Jack’d and Adam4Adam.

In seeking to verify the reports, federal agents have culled Mateen’s electronic devices, including a laptop computer and cellphone, as well as electronic communications of those who made the claims, law enforcement officials said.

So far, they have found no photographs, no text messages, no smartphone apps, no gay pornography and no cell-tower location data to suggest that Mateen — who was twice married to women and had a young son — conducted a secret gay life, the officials said.

This whole “Omar Manteen was gay” narrative began with Chris Hayes of MSNBC news airing unsubstantiated statements made by Cord Cedeno “who had a gut feeling not to go into Pulse that night” and framing it as news on MSNBC and many news outlets including LGBT venues following suit without any proof.

Great journalistic standards guys.

 

FBI Now “Skeptical’ That Orlando Shooter Omar Mateen Was Closeted Bisexual Or Gay Despite Rumors

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Omar Mateen Was Closeted Bisexual Or Gay

 

Almost one week after the horrific mass shooting which targeted the LGBT community and left 49 people dead officials have become ” skeptical” of unconfirmed reports that Omar Mateen was bisexual or gay and closeted:

Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that the F.B.I. is increasingly skeptical of reports that Mr. Mateen was gay but “closeted,” that he had been visiting gay clubs or that he had used gay dating apps. The bureau has recovered the Samsung phone he used the night of the attack, and is trying to retrieve data from it.

No profiles for Mateen have been found on any gay dating apps such as Grindr, Adam4Adam or Jack’d despite claims by some that they had seen Mateen on the gay sex sites.

Chris Hayes of MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes broke the story earlier this week without any substantial evidence to prove any of the accusations.
 

Gay Russian Couple Arrested Outside US Embassy In Moscow For Honoring Orlando Victims – Video

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Gay Russian Couple Arrested Outside US Embassy In Moscow For Honoring Orlando Victims

A gay Russian male couple paying tribute to the Orlando shooting victims were arrested in Russia on Sunday. Islam Abdullabeckov and his boyfriend Felix Glyukman were on their way to the U.S. embassy in Moscow on Sunday afternoon with a candle, some flowers, and a sign that read “Love Wins.” But the moment the young couple laid the sign down on the pavement outside the embassy, they were arrested by policemen under Russia’s draconian Homosexual Propaganda Law.

We wanted to put a poster down there, put down some flowers, and light a candle. Instead, we were taken to local police department and accused of unsanctioned picketing.”

The couple was to a police station and released after three hours of interrogation. If found guilty, they could each face up to 10 days in jail or a fine of $900.

Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Russia per se, but state sanctioned homophobia is rampant

A video showing the arrest of Felik and Islam was released by a Russian TV network. The video shows a police officer grabbing Islam by the arm and putting him into the police cruiser where Glyukman joins his partner. The couple has since made it clear that this arrest will not deter them from expressing their condolences to the dead. They have also expressed their shock over the fact that even in a country as liberal as the United States, such a homophobic act was committed. The couple’s lawyer says that he hopes the situation will not end up in court.

 

Wife of PULSE Massacre Terrorist Omar Manteen Found NOT GUILTY

Wife of Pulse Nightclub Killer Omar Mateen Knew of Attack, Drove Him To The Nightclub To “Scope It Out”

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Wife of Pulse Nightlub Killer Omar Mateen Knew of Attack Drove Him To The Nightclub To Scope It Out

 

Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, has told the FBI that she was with him when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case said. She told the FBI that she once drove him to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out.

Mateen opened fire at Pulse early Sunday, leaving 49 dead and 53 injured. Twenty-seven victims remained hospitalized Tuesday. Six were in critical condition, according to hospital officials who said the death toll was still at risk of rising because one or two of those patients were “profoundly ill.”

Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against Noor for failing to tell them what she knew before the brutal attack, law enforcement officials say, but no decision has been made.

Public records show Salman was a student at the now-defunct Heald College-Concord. Facebook accounts for her relatives show they are Palestinian. But they don’t appear to have been strictly religious. Salman and her sisters did not wear the hijab, according to posts, in contrast to ISIS’s requirements for women. Mateen’s ex-wife has stated that Mateen was not very religious when they were married.

Salman allegedly tried to dissuade him from attacking the club, NBC News reports, citing officials. She has not yet been charged in relation to the attack, but NBC News and ABC News report authorities are considering charges.

UPDATE #2 – DEADLIEST MASS SHOOTING IN US HISTORY: 50 Killed, 54 Wounded In Florida Gay Nightclub Mass Shooting, Suspect Named – Video

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Pulse

 

Over 20 people are dead and 42 people have been transported for medical treatment at Pulse nightclub, in Orlando, Florida.

The shooting began around 2 a.m., and an officer responded, Mina said. The officer engaged in a shoot out outside the club. The gunman then ran into the club.

“That turned into a hostage situation. Police and relatives  were getting calls from people inside the club.
 
The killer was well prepared carrying automatic weapons. Police Chief John Mina also said the shooter had some sort of “suspicious device.”
 
The suspect exchanged gunfire with an officer working at the club around 2 a.m., then went back inside and took hostages
 
“That turned into a hostage situation,” Mina said. Authorities were getting calls from people inside the club but away from the gunman, the chief said.
 
“Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running,” the nightclub posted on its Facebook page shortly after the violence began
 
Around 5 a.m., authorities sent in a SWAT team to rescue the hostages, and the suspect then died in a gunfight with those officers. Mina said police have not determined an exact number of casualties, but that “approximately 20” people were dead inside the club.
 
“It’s just shocking,” said Christopher Hansen who was inside Pulse. He heard gunshots, “just one after another after another.”
 
FBI spokesman Danny Banks said during a news conference that the mass shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. He says authorities are looking into whether this was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter was a lone wolf.
 
Orlando police warned residents to stay away from the area, and urged people not to call their offices. They declined to provide the number of casualties, saying details will be available later. Bomb sniffing dogs are on the scene.
 
Back2Stonewall’s hearts and prayers go out to the victims, friends, and families of this terrible incident.
 
We will keep you updated as more details come available.

 

UPDATE #1: 9:00 a.m.
At a press conference on Sunday at 7 a.m., an FBI official was asked if the shooter, who was shot and killed by police, had ties to Jihadist terror groups. “At this time we’re looking at all angles right now.” the official said. “We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say definitively so we’re still running everything around”

 

Update #2: 11.30 a.m.
According to new information released the numbers now stand at 50 people killed and over 53 wounded  inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, Orlando making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
The shooter has been identified as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, about 120 miles southeast of Orlando.

 

WARNING: The video below is graphic in content