Wife of Omar Mateen, the Pulse nightclub shooter, was found not guilty on all counts on Friday.
Noor Salman was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco in January 2017. She was charged with obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization. Salman's husband killed 49 people and injured 58 more at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, a gay bar, in June 2016. If Salman was found guilty, she could have been sentenced life in prison. The jury announced the verdict on Friday after deciding not to take an extra hour to deliberate on Thursday.
John Mina, the chief of the Orlando Police Department, said in a statement after the verdict, "Nothing can erase the pain we all feel about the senseless and brutal murders of 49 of our neighbors, friends, family members and loved ones." He continued, "Our community is strong, and the men and women of the Orlando Police Department stand ready to put themselves in harm's way to protect our residents and visitors."
ABC News reported that the prosecutors portrayed Salman as a wife who helped her spouse prep for the deadly shooting. The defense, on the other hand, described her as a woman that faced abuse and "married a monster." At the time of the massacre, it was the largest mass shooting in modern United States history. The Las Vegas shooting in October 2017 is the current largest mass shooting in modern United States history with a death toll of 59 lives taken.
The trial began two weeks ago at District Court in Orlando, Florida, which is only two miles away from the location of the shooting.
