ISIS video praises gunman in Orlando shooting
The Islamic State terror group praised the shooting in Orlando, saying in a video that it was a "revenge" for Muslims and that the attacker was its "lion."
"Omar Mateen one of Islamic State's lions, set out to restore the glory of the Ummah and avenge the death of Muslims. He shook the head of kufr (unbeliever) America, terrorized it and shed its blood," says the video posted on Mirror. "Allah enabled him to inflict heavy casualties amongst the filthy Crusaders. 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 video of more than five minutes starts with the message "2001 The beginning of American's war on TERROR" and "2001 They THOUGHT it has come to an end." It then shows an animation of a gun, the bullet of which shoots toward the message, "Homosexuals nightclub, Orlando, Florida." It then shows blood with the message "more than 50 dead" and "more than 50 wounded."
Mateen, the 29-year-old man who sprayed bullets on Sunday inside Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, Florida, killed 49 people and left 52 others injured. Authorities are still trying to establish his motive, but there are reports that he declared his allegiance to ISIS prior to the incident.
According to CBS News, Mateen posted a message on Facebook the night before the attack that he wanted to exact revenge on those who are conducting air strikes.
"You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes.i.now taste the Islamic state vengeance [sic]," Mateen reportedly wrote. "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State [ISIS] in the usa."
Meanwhile, there are reports that Mateen visited the club a few times previously, and his ex-wife said that he has gay tendencies. According to Mirror, a regular at Pulse said that Mateen had been sending him message via the gay dating app Jack'd on and off for a year. Someone also recognized him outside of the club around an hour prior to the shooting.