The FBI investigated the Orlando mass shooter for 10 months — and found nothing. Here's why
Del Quentin Wilber
The veteran FBI agent and a local sheriff’s deputy took no chances when they got a credible tip about a potential terrorist.
In a joint operation, they ran his name through a maze of federal criminal and terrorism databases and scrutinized his telephone records for suspicious contacts.
Without a warrant, they couldn’t read his emails or listen to his calls. But they watched him from unmarked vehicles to track his daily routine and to see whom he met.
They deployed two confidential informants more than a dozen times to secretly record his conversations. They interviewed him twice and convinced him to provide a written statement — in which he admitted he previously had lied to agents.
In the end, after a counter-terrorism investigation that stretched from May 2013 to March 2014, the agent and his supervisor concluded that Omar Mateen was not a threat and closed the case.
Just over two years later, on June 12, the 29-year-old security guard strode into a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and massacred 49 people and wounded dozens more in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. He pledged allegiance to Islamic State before he was killed by police.
At least 84 dead as truck slams into crowd of revelers in Nice, France, attack
In a joint operation, they ran his name through a maze of federal criminal and terrorism databases and scrutinized his telephone records for suspicious contacts.
Without a warrant, they couldn’t read his emails or listen to his calls. But they watched him from unmarked vehicles to track his daily routine and to see whom he met.
They deployed two confidential informants more than a dozen times to secretly record his conversations. They interviewed him twice and convinced him to provide a written statement — in which he admitted he previously had lied to agents.
In the end, after a counter-terrorism investigation that stretched from May 2013 to March 2014, the agent and his supervisor concluded that Omar Mateen was not a threat and closed the case.
Just over two years later, on June 12, the 29-year-old security guard strode into a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and massacred 49 people and wounded dozens more in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. He pledged allegiance to Islamic State before he was killed by police.
At least 84 dead as truck slams into crowd of revelers in Nice, France, attack
Alexandra Zavis, Ann M. Simmons and Sarah Harvey
A truck loaded with weapons barreled through a crowd of
Bastille Day revelers gathered Thursday to watch a fireworks display in
the southern French resort city of Nice, fatally crushing people for
more than a mile in what officials described as the latest in a string
of deadly terrorist attacks to hit Europe.
At least 84 people were killed, including children, and scores of others were wounded, 18 of them critically, the French Interior Ministry said.
Grisly video showed a white truck accelerating down a coastal promenade teeming with people before the driver was shot and killed by police. Local authorities said the vehicle was full of arms and grenades.
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First picture of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ID card found at scene of Nice lorry massacre
Motorcyclist crushed trying to stop killer truck
At least 84 people were killed, including children, and scores of others were wounded, 18 of them critically, the French Interior Ministry said.
Grisly video showed a white truck accelerating down a coastal promenade teeming with people before the driver was shot and killed by police. Local authorities said the vehicle was full of arms and grenades.
]
First picture of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ID card found at scene of Nice lorry massacre
WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGES: At least 84 people, including several children, are dead after a suspected terror attack on Bastille Day celebrations
Police found documents belonging to Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old French man of Tunisian descent, in the truck which ploughed through crowds in Nice.
Anti-terror officers then raided his home and arrested his ex-wife is in connection with the terror attack.
Bouhlel was known to officers for common law crimes such as theft and violence but reportedly had no known connections with extremists.
The killer was eventually shot dead by police with pictures showing his truck riddled with bullet holes.
Here is what we know so far about the man driving the truck.
Berlin (AFP) - A German journalist who witnessed the Nice attack said he saw a motorcyclist chase the killer truck and try to enter the cabin but fall and end up under the wheels.
"I stood on the balcony, right on the Promenade des Anglais, and saw how people celebrated there, and how suddenly a truck drove through the crowd," Richard Gutjahr, 42, who shot smartphone video footage of the bloody Bastille Day rampage, told AFP on Friday.
"Surprisingly, he drove very slowly, not fast, he drove slowly and he was chased by a motorcyclist," recounted Gutjahr by telephone.
"The motorcyclist attempted to overtake the truck and even tried to open the driver's door, but he fell and ended up under the wheels of the truck."
Gutjahr, a freelance journalist, said he also saw two police officers open fire on the truck.
"Then the driver stepped on the accelerator and the truck sped up, accelerated and drove in a zig-zag course into the crowd.
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