UPDATED 4:19 p.m. ET: The FBI and Department of Justice have released a statement regarding the partial transcript of Omar Mateen's 911 call released on Monday. The statement reads:
The purpose of releasing the partial transcript of the shooter's interaction with 911 operators was to provide transparency, while remaining sensitive to the interests of the surviving victims, their families, and the integrity of the ongoing investigation. We also did not want to provide the killer or terrorist organizations with a publicity platform for hateful propaganda. Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organizations and leaders have caused an unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime. As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances.
The complete transcript published by the FBI and DOJ in tandem with the statement reads:
2:35 a.m.: Shooter contacted a 911 operator from inside Pulse. The call lasted approximately 50 seconds, the details of which are set out below:
Original story, below
The FBI continues to investigate the massacre of 49 people at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. On Monday, the FBI publicly released a partial transcript and description of the 911 call that the shooter, Omar Mateen, made before shooting over 100 people at the club. The chilling partial transcript details the call Mateen made, and actions from police following the call as the shooting was ongoing.
According to the description, Mateen first spoke in Arabic, but then told the 911 operator in English, "I let you know, I'm in Orlando and I did the shootings." The operator asked Mateen where in Orlando he was just before the call ended. The description goes on to say that the Orlando Police Department made a series of three crisis negotiation calls, which were only limitedly transcribed.
While speaking with the crisis negotiators, Mateen said that there was a vehicle outside of the club with bombs, adding, "You people are gonna get it, and I'm gonna ignite it if they try to do anything stupid." Before hanging up with crisis negotiators and disconnecting from police for the last time described in the transcript, Mateen stated, "In the next few days, you're going to see more of this type of action going on."
Per a decision from Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Department of Justice removed references that the shooter made to radical terror groups, including ISIS, from the transcript, according to NBC News. Asked about the omitted remarks, Lynch told Meet the Press that the DOJ did not want to "further proclaim this individual's pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda."
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan tweeted a criticism of the DOJ's decision to omit references to ISIS, calling on the Obama administration to release the full transcript without redactions:
Members of the press have also spoken out to express outrage over the omitted portions of the transcript:
Earlier reports noted that Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston marathon bombings in his call to the police.
The FBI did not immediately reply to Complex's request for comment.
