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 complete transcript published by the FBI and DOJ in tandem with the statement reads:
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.
Related Stories
CIA: No Direct Link Between Orlando Shooter and Foreign Terror Groups
The CIA says there’s no direct link between Orlando shooter Omar Mateen and foreign terrorist groups, despite his pledge to ISIS.
ISIS Officially Claims Responsibility for Orlando Nightclub Shooting
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Orlando nightclub shooting—suspected shooter Omar Mateen's specific ties to the terrorist organization are unclear.
What We Can't Afford to Ignore About the Orlando Shooting
Neither of our potential future presidents mentioned that this was a targeted attack on the LGBTQ community.
