Omar Mateen, the shooter responsible for the deadly attacks at an Orlando gay nightclub Sunday morning, referred to the Boston Marathon bombers as his “homeboys” during one of the 911 calls he made during the attack, according to the FBI.
“During the calls he said he was doing this for the leader of ISIL, who he named and pledged loyalty to, but he also appeared to claim solidarity with the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing, and solidarity with a Florida man who died as a suicide bomber in Syria for al Nusra Front, a group in conflict with Islamic State,” FBI Director James Comey said in a Washington, D.C., press conference Monday. “The bombers at the Boston Marathon and the suicide bomber from Florida were not inspired by ISIL, which adds a little bit to the confusion about his motives.”
Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBIs Boston division, said they have not uncovered any connection between Mateen and brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who killed three people and injured 260 others after planting a pressure cooker near the finish line.
But Gov. Charlie Baker, D-Mass., said Mateen mentioned the Tsarnaevs a few years ago when the FBI had initially investigated him.
“We do know that he raised the Tsarnaev brothers a couple of years ago, and there were a series of interviews and discussions directly with him by federal officials, and they concluded at that point in time that there was no direction between him and them at all,” the governor said.
Federal agents believe Mateen, the son of an Afghan immigrant, may have been inspired by foreign terrorist organizations, not because of a personal relationship he may have had with the Tsarnaev brothers.
Comey said the three calls were made from the PULSE nightclub, during the attack, at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time. He called, hung up, then called 911 again and spoke for a short time with the dispatcher, before hanging up for a second time. The 911 operator called him back and talked with him again briefly.
