FBI Releases Scrubbed Transcript of Orlando Terrorist’s 911 Calls

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released scrubbed, or redacted transcripts of the Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen’s 911 calls to police during the attack.

He began speaking to the 911 operator in Arabic and praised “God the Merciful” in the heavily redacted transcripts that purged any reference to Islamic terrorist motives and the Islamic State, to whom he pledged his allegiance before killing at least 49 people and wounding at least 53 others.

“Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God,” Mateen said in Arabic before switching to English during a 50-second phone call in the midst of the massacre. “I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.”

“I pledge allegiance to [redacted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [redacted],” Mateen told the 911 dispatcher.

Mateen, who opened fire inside the gay nightclub Pulse, had been on the FBI’s radar after twice being investigated for ties to terrorism. The full transcript of the 911 calls would confirm Mateen’s real motives, which were his Islamist beliefs.

“What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].”

In Islam, the penalty for gays, as an imam preached in Orlando just two months before the attack, is death. There is, however, some debate over the method for killing gays, which they believe is “compassionate.”

Mateen also claimed during the 911 call he had an explosive vest similar to the kind used by the Islamic terrorists “in France,” a reference to the November terror attack in Paris.

“In the next few days, you’re going to see more of this type of action going on,” Mateen said.