Noor Salman, the widow of the gunman behind the deadliest mass shooting in Florida, admits to knowing that her late husband was planning to attack a gay nightclub in June 2016. She even devised a cover story for him to accommodate the shooting, federal prosecutors said in a California court on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Salman who was arrested earlier this month in the San Francisco Bay Area, is faced with federal charges for obstruction of justice, and participating in the attempt of providing material support to a terrorist organization with her late husband, Omar Mateen. Prosecutors argued that the 30-year-old should remain jailed on the charges over the mass shooting incident that contributed to the deaths of 49 people in the modern U.S. history.
She admitted to knowing that Mateen left their house with a firearm and a backpack full of ammunition before the Pulse nightclub shooting happened, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney told a federal judge in Oakland. Sweeney said that Salman also directed Mateen to tell his parents that he was at dinner with a friend, if he was asked where he was during the incident.
"Salman knew that her husband was leaving to commit an attack," she added. She said that Salman was asleep at home with the couple's 3-year-old son during the attack. Sweeney also alleged Salman of accompanying Mateen on "casing" trips to two other locations, including Downtown Disney in Orlando, days before the shooting, according to The Crime Report.
Instead of immediately ruling Salman, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Donna Ryu, ordered psychiatric and psychological tests to be done over Salman's mental health. However, Salman's lawyers demand her to be released, claiming that she poses no threat to the public and that her required mental health services are not available in the jail.
