Orlando gunman’s wife reportedly knew of attack plans

The second wife of the Orlando gunman who killed 49 people may face criminal charges after she told investigators she knew of her husband’s plans and tried to stop him.

Noor Zahi Salman, the wife of Omar Mateen, told the FBI she was with her husband when he purchased a holster and ammunition, NBC News reported on Tuesday. Salman said she drove Mateen to Pulse, the gay club that was the scene of the weekend massacre, in the past to scout it out. Salman said she had attempted to persuade her Mateen to abandon his attack plans, officials told NBC.

The authorities were considering lodging criminal charges against Salman over her involvement, according to the report.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press investigators who have spoken with Salman are looking into whether the two of them were recently at or outside the nightclub he attacked.

The official said investigators had been told that Mateen and his wife had been at the Pulse nightclub on a prior occasion and were trying to confirm the accuracy of that statement.

The official said the FBI has Mateen’s phone and will try to use data from it to see if he had visited the club before.

The official said investigators have not ruled out charging anyone who may have had advance knowledge of the attack.

People magazine reported on Monday that Salman told federal authorities her husband had more recently been “scouting Downtown Disney [shopping area now known as Disney Springs] and Pulse for attacks.”

The attack, which was the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history, also wounded 53 people.

FBI chief James Comey said Monday his bureau was “highly confident” Mateen had been “radicalized” while consuming online propaganda and that he had claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack.

Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told US media on Monday Mateen was bipolar and abusive.

“He was mentally unstable and mentally ill,” she said. Although records show the couple didn’t divorce for two years after the marriage, Yusiufiy said she was actually only with Mateen for four months because he was abusive. She said he would not let her speak to her family.

Yusufiy said she was “devastated, shocked, started shaking and crying” when she heard about the shooting, but she attributed the violence to Mateen’s mental illness, not any alliance with terrorist groups.

The FBI on Tuesday said it would investigate reports that Mateen himself was gay and a regular patron at the Pulse.