Wife of Orlando shooter pleads not guilty to terror charges

Noor Salman says she did not know extent of husband’s plans for last June’s attack, in which 49 were killed

By AP and ToI Staff 13 April 2017, 5:12 am

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Orlando gunman Omar Mateen (R) with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman and son. (Screen capture: YouTube)

ORLANDO, Fla. — The wife of the gunman in the Orlando nightclub massacre has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting her husband and obstruction of justice.

Noor Zahi Salman, wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, made a brief appearance before a judge in the Orlando federal courthouse Wednesday.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Salman’s attorney Fritz Scheller waived the reading of an indictment and entered a not guilty plea for her.

Salman agreed last week to be transferred to Florida from California, where she’d been held since her January arrest. A tentative June trial date was set.

An aerial view of the mass shooting scene at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016. (AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

“It’s going to be a long road. She’s fine,” Scheller told reporters after the hearing, according to the Sentinel.

Prosecutors say Salman knew about Mateen’s plans to attack the nightclub on June 12, killing 49 people. Her attorneys say she didn’t know the extent of his plans and has no connection to terror groups.

Mateen was killed in a shootout with police.

Salman, who grew up in the small suburb of Rodeo, California, 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, was born in the United States while her parents’ birthplaces were listed as “Palestine” in marriage documents.