Wife of Orlando shooter knew of attack, could soon be charged: Source

The wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub knew of his plans for the attack and could soon be charged in connection with the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, a law enforcement source said.

The source told Reuters that a federal grand jury has been convened and could charge Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, as early as today. US Senator Angus King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that it appears she had some knowledge of what was going on, which received a briefing on the attack.

Federal investigators have said he was likely self-radicalized and there was no evidence that he received any instruction or aid from outside groups such as Islamic State. President Barack Obama told reporters after



a meeting of the White House National Security Council that he appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized.

FoxNews.com, citing an FBI source, said prosecutors were seeking to charge Mateen's wife, Salman, as an accessory to 49 counts of murder and 53 counts of attempted murder and failure to notify law enforcement about the pending attack and lying to federal agents.

Meanwhile, Obama denounced Donald Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, joining fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton in portraying the Republican presidential candidate as unfit for the White House. Trump had criticized Obama for not using the term radical Islamic terrorism to describe violent Islamist militants.