Orlando officers cleared by Pulse massacre probe

Eleven Orlando police officers who fired their weapons during the Pulse nightclub massacre in June 2016 were cleared by the department of any wrongdoing, an Internal Affairs investigation shows.

The exonerations come months after the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office cleared the OPD officers and three deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in February of any possible criminal charges, saying their use of deadly force against shooter Omar Mateen was justified and no police bullets wounded any of the victims at Pulse.

OPD’s Internal Affairs investigation, which the Orlando Sentinel obtained through a public records request, relied on interviews the officers gave to Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents days after the shooting and focused on possible violations of the department’s policies on obedience to laws, obedience to policies and procedures, and use of deadly force.

“The actions of the Orlando Police Department officers involved in this incident were cleared by the FBI, State Attorney’s Office and by OPD’s Internal Affairs unit,” Lt. Wanda Miglio said in a statement. “All concluded our officers actions were justified.”

In interviews with FDLE investigators, all off the officers said they used deadly force because they feared Mateen was going to harm them or others.

“I knew he was going to kill more people, kill us,” Officer Michael Napolitano said. “I figured the best way to stop him was to kill him.”

They were exonerated in August after a review of their interviews and evidence determined their actions were “in compliance” with the policies, internal investigator T. Lashon Goins wrote.

That includes Officer Adam Gruler, who was working extraduty security at the nightclub June 12, 2016, and was the first to fire his weapon at Mateen. Gruler was hailed as a hero after the massacre, but has been criticized by some family members of Pulse victims and experts in police tactics for not pursuing Mateen into the nightclub when the gunfire began.

Gruler had just returned to the club after leaving briefly to find a juvenile who had run away from him earlier that night, when he heard shots coming from inside Pulse, he told FDLE investigators. As he took cover behind his car and radioed for backup, he said he saw two people stumble out of the club and Mateen’s arm extending out of the doors grasping a long gun, which he fired at the men outside the club.

Gruler shot at Mateen about six to 10 times from his car — about 75 feet away — and struck a door, he said in the interview. He walked around to the west side of the building as Mateen retreated into the club, where he said he could see Mateen inside “shooting bodies on the ground as he stepped over them.”

Gruler shot at Mateen again from the parking lot after he walked over to the east side of the building and saw Mateen through an open door. He helped to clear victims from the club before he was relieved by another officer, he said.

According to previously released records, Mateen began shooting inside the club at 2:02 a.m. At least two more officers arrived within minutes, but police didn’t enter the nightclub until 2:08 a.m. In that brief period, Mateen had fired more than 200 rounds, according OPD’s timeline.

When Lt. Scott Smith entered the club soon after, he said he and a sergeant fired at a person crouching behind a bathroom door who they believed was Mateen because he refused commands to show them his hands. The person was a civilian, who ran out from the bathroom moments later with his hands up. None of the officers’ bullets struck him, investigators have said.

In its review of the shooting, the State Attorney’s Office said it combined an FBI ballistics report, video evidence of the shooting, medical examiner reports and eyewitness statements to determine no one inside the club was struck by friendly fire. The FBI’s tests of bullets recovered from victims were unable to conclusively determine who fired the shots that killed them. The other OPD officers who shot at Mateen did so in the final few minutes of the roughly threehour standoff, after SWAT team members broke through a west wall of the nightclub in an attempt to rescue victims from inside the bathrooms. When the wall leading to the bathroom where Mateen had barricaded himself was breached, he began firing at officers through the hole.

Firing back were officers Michael Napolitano, Timothy Stanley, Kevin Easterling, Andrew Bishop, Ricardo Duenas; sergeants James Parker and Jeffrey Backhaus; detective Raul Rivas; and Lieutenants Jonathan Bigelow and Smith. Mateen fired at the officers at least two times through the hole in the wall, the State Attorney’s Office said. Napolitano was struck in his Kevlar helmet by one of Mateen’s bullets, the force of it knocking him to the ground. He fired back while laying on his side, he told FDLE investigators.

Eventually, Mateen fell backward. As officers approached him, some said they saw a gun within his reach and wires on his body.

Bigelow told FDLE investigators he was concerned Mateen may still be alive because he heard someone say he was still moving.

“I think I said ‘how do [we] know this f——- is dead, he’s got a bomb and we’ve got people inside.’ I go ‘we should put a bullet in his head and be done with it so we can rescue these people,’” Bigelow said in the interview.

He said Smith walked over to Mateen and shot him once.

“He goes ‘hold on guys’ boom and he shoots one shot and then comes back,” Bigelow said.