Killer in 911 call: ‘Call me the soldier of God’
Transcripts show in detail the Orlando assailant’s demands in talks with negotiator.
ORLANDO, Fla. — “This is Mateen. I want to let you know I’m in Orlando and I did the shooting.”
So began the first 911 call Omar Mateen placed to authorities the night of his rampage at the Pulse nightclub that left 49 people dead. Transcripts of 911 calls released Friday show a detailed glimpse of Mateen’s demands and his conversations with a crisis negotiator.
“You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They are killing a lot of innocent people,” Mateen said during the June 12 standoff.
He also pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
In a second call at 2:48 a.m., an Orlando police crisis negotiator attempted to placate Mateen.
“I completely get what you’re saying,” the negotiator said. “What I’m trying to do is prevent anybody else from getting—”
But Mateen interrupted before the negotiator could finish.
“You need to stop the U.S. airstrikes. They need to stop the U.S. airstrikes, OK?” he said.
The negotiator explained to Mateen he was “not a politician” or government.
“All I can do is help individuals and I want to start with helping you,” the negotiator said.
That’s when Mateen indicated he had bombs in “some vehicles outside.” This claim was later determined to be false.
“Your people are going to get it and I’m going to ignite it if they try to do anything stupid,” Mateen said. “They can take out a whole city block, almost.”
Mateen likened himself to other terrorists behind recent violence, telling the negotiator he was attacking because the “U.S. is collaborating with Russia and they are killing innocent women and children.”
He also referred to one of the two brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing.
“My homeboy Tamerlan Tsarnaev did his thing on the Boston Marathon,” Mateen said. “My homeboy [unidentified name] did his thing, OK, so now it’s my turn, OK?”
The negotiator tried to introduce himself to Mateen: “My name is Andy. What’s yours?”
But Mateen only responded by saying his “name is Islamic Soldier.”
“Call me mujahedin, call me the soldier of God,” Mateen said.
The negotiator pressed further.
“OK. OK. So that’s a lot for me to say, so can I just — can I just call you something else? Do you have a name, a nickname?”
Mateen interrupted again and told the negotiator “it’s the last month of Ramadan, if you ever know about that.” He said he fasted and prayed the whole day before committing the attacks.
As the negotiator told Mateen he was attempting to ensure “no one else suffers any further injury,” Mateen said he had “a vest.”
“It’s what they used in France,” Mateen said of the vest, referring to the suicide bombers from the November attack on Paris.
Mateen told the negotiator his explosives were undetectable by bomb dogs.
“You can’t smell it. Bring your little American bomb dog, they are [expletive] outdated anyway,” Mateen said.
But then Mateen retracted his claim, instead saying the vest was “like, you know, to go out to a wedding.”
That’s when Mateen stopped talking to the negotiator but did not hang up the phone. The crisis negotiator continued trying to engage Mateen until about 2:57 a.m.
In another call minutes later, the Orlando police officer called Mateen by his first name.
Mateen responded by talking about an airstrike that killed Abu Waheeb, an Islamic State commander in Iraq.
“That’s what triggered it, OK?” Mateen said.
“OK,” the negotiator responded.
Waheeb was killed May 6 in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike that hit his car, according to the BBC. The Pentagon announced his death.
Waheeb gained recognition for circulating violent videos online.
“They should have not bombed and killed Abu [Waheeb],” Mateen said.
The negotiator asked whether Mateen he was injured and if there was anyone with him.
“That’s none of your business,” Mateen responded.
As the call neared its end, Mateen continued emphasizing his rage at U.S. airstrikes.
“You see, now you feel, now you feel how it is, now you feel how it is,” he said.
The negotiator tried to get Mateen to come out, but Mateen stopped talking and the call ended about 3:15 a.m.
The last time negotiators spoke to Mateen was in a three-minute conversation ending at 3:25 a.m.
“You’re annoying me with these phone calls, and I don’t really appreciate it,” he told the negotiator.
The negotiator asked Mateen to come outside and explain his views in person so they would be better received.
“I’ve heard that and I want you to come outside and tell us that yourself so the message rings true from you without me passing along your message,” the negotiator said. “I’m doing that, but I need you to come outside with no weapons. Omar?” The line clicked off. Police eventually broke through a wall of the nightclub to reach hostages. Mateen stormed out of the building and was killed in a gun battle with police.
The city did not release the 28 minutes of recorded conversation between Mateen and the police crisis negotiation team.
The Orlando Sentinel and two dozen other media organizations have been involved in a legal battle to have all the calls released.
‘My homeboy Tamerlan Tsarnaev did his thing on the Boston Marathon. … So now it’s my turn, OK?’ — Omar Mateen, to 911 negotiator