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Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., became the scene of of American's worst mass murders — after Islamic terrorist
Omar Mateen slaughtered 49 revelers on June 12, 2016, before dying in a shootout with local police. The search for justice has continued in 2017, though, with Mateen's wife
Noor Salman now arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the brutal bloodbath, including driving Mateen to the nightclub on an earlier mission to plan the massacre. Now photos have been released of the deadly attack — including a look inside the bathroom where terrified clubgoers huddled in fear! [RAPHIC IMAGES FOLLOW...]
Photo credit: City of Orlando/Files
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Dozens of partygoers hid out in the Pulse bathroom — where Mateen first went in to kill innocent victims. An eyewitness to the nightclub nightmare recalled how he and a friend hid in a stall as Mateen first entered the bathroom. “People were screaming, begging for their lives,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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Miami native Miguel Leiva added that
Mateen later returned to find that he and others had barricaded themselves in the lavatory — and demanded that the revelers step outside. “Fifteen or 20 of us, maybe even 30 of us, stayed in the stall,” he said.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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“We just stayed quiet, and everybody’s phone kept ringing,” Leiva added. “The only way we knew to, like, let our families know, you know, we’re OK, we’re OK, was just to record it and let them hear that we’re trying to be quiet and send the video.”
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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The bathroom still wasn't safe, however. Mateen roamed the club and kept shooting from his arsenal — with Leiva suffering two gunshots wounds. A SWAT team later broke through the wall to free the terrified hostages after Mateen ended his own life.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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“We were just waving our hands so they can see that we’re alive, but we were still trying to be quiet,” Leiva recalled. "So, finally, they start pulling people out, and it was so bad, like, we had to step over bodies. Half of those people were in the bathroom with me.”
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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Just moments before his rampage that left more than 100 people dead or wounded in Pulse,
Mateen called 911 and
pledged allegiance to ISIS, the brutes who coldly beheaded innocent Americans and inspired the Boston Marathon bombings. “He was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people,” said Daniel Gilroy, who worked with Mateen at the G4S Security company from 2014 to 2015.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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Gilroy said Mateen often hurled racial slurs and
complained about homosexuals. When Gilroy spoke out against his co-worker, Mateen began stalking him, sending up to 45 text and phone messages daily. “I quit because he was toxic,” said Gilroy.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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But there were even earlier signs of the terror to come. Mateen cheered as terrorists flew jumbo jets into New York’s Twin Towers on 9/11, said former classmates — and, years later, he beat his now ex-wife. “He abused me physically and kept me hostage from my family,” said Sitora Yusufiy.
Photo credit: City of Orlando
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But he seemingly found a more kindred soul with his second wife Noor Salman — who Mateen texted during his horrific attack on the innocent revelers. Her arrest comes after she protested her innocence, despite claims that she had accompanied Mateen as he spent thousands on death-dealing ammunition. She told reporters: “I was unaware of everything!”
Photo credit: City of Orlando/Files