The man who fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend posted a warning on Facebook minutes before his shooting rampage, a source close to the investigation confirmed to CBS News Wednesday evening.
Omar Mateen, 29, told his Facebook friends that he and other Islamic State affiliates were preparing multiple revenge attacks on the U.S.
“You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance [sic],” Mateen wrote. “In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State [ISIS] in the usa.”
Although investigators do not believe Mateen was a member of the Islamic State, he pledged loyalty to the group during multiple 911 calls he made before and during the attacks at the Pulse nightclub.
The Islamic State’s official radio station, al-Bayan, claimed responsibility for Mateen’s act in a report issued later on Sunday.
“We begin from America, where Allah has enabled brother Omar Mateen, one of the soldiers of the Caliphate in America, to carry out a raid where he was able to infiltrate a crusaders’ gathering at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.,” the radio report said.
“Allah enabled him to inflict heavy casualties amongst the filthy crusaders,” the station continued. “He killed and injured over a hundred of them. This is the biggest raid to be carried in America after the raid of Manhattan 16 years ago. All praise to Allah.”
The FBI announced Monday the shooting was a terrorist attack and a hate crime.
