As if the reports from the Pulse nightclub shooting this past Sunday couldn’t get any more haunting, new details are emerging that the gunman texted his wife while the massacre was ongoing. According to CNN, not only did he send her messages while holed up in a club bathroom in the midst of the hostage crisis, she apparently responded and started a conversation once she realized what was going on from the news reports rolling in. At one point, she told him she loved him and allegedly attempted to call him multiple times once she suspected him to be the one responsible for the violence.
The attack on one of the largest gay clubs in Florida killed 49 people while injuring dozens more, and the possible involvement of the gunman’s wife is still under investigation by the FBI and other government agencies. There is evidence that the attacker asked multiple gun stores for large amounts of ammunition and body armor as well as posted pro-Islamic State messages on his Facebook page and watched ISIS beheading videos while planning out his violent siege. However, law enforcement has not yet confirmed whether or not they believe the wife was directly involved in the act of terrorism, if she only had mild suspicions based on her husband’s behavior, or was not privy to any part of his desire to inflict such horror on a crowd of innocent people.
There’s no telling what else could or could not have been discussed in those text messages, but the fact that the conversation continued while the gunman was planning his next move inside Pulse may eventually offer additional insight as to his mindset and motivations.
(via CNN)