FBI Asking For Tips To Piece Together Orlando Killer's Movements

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ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) — The FBI is asking for the public's help to piece together their investigation into the Orlando Massacre.

"We need your help in developing a picture of what the shooter did and why he did it," said FBI Agent Ronald Hopper during a press conference Wednesday. "We want to hear from any member of the public who has had any connection or any involvement with the shooter."

As they piece together what led up to Omar Mateen opening fire at Pulse nightclub, questions remain about whether charges will be filed against his wife Noor Salman.

"Today I am not going to speculate with respect to any charges that might be brought or indeed as to whether any charges will be brought. It is premature to do so," said U.S. Attorney For The Middle District Lee Bentley. "We are not sure when charges will be brought or if charges will be brought."

"We are talking to literally hundreds of people," said Bentley referring to anyone who may have had contact with Mateen.

An official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe Salman, knew ahead of time about the plans for the attack that left 49 victims dead, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.

Investigators have spoken extensively with her and are working to establish whether she recently accompanied Mateen to the Pulse club, said a second official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

CBS News has learned that Salman is seen on surveillance video buying ammunition with her husband.

One official said investigators have not ruled out charging others, including Salman.

"We are continuing to do interviews. If there's anybody that's associated, whether that means they were involved in the planning or the execution of this act, they will be brought to justice," Hopper said.

The FBI has recovered Mateen's phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, the official said. Orlando is nearly a two-hour drive from Mateen's home in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Mateen drove around on Saturday night before he opened fire at the gay nightclub about 2 a.m. Sunday in an attack that ended with the 29-year-old American-born Muslim being killed by a police SWAT team.

"What I know concretely is that he was driving around that evening and visited several locations," Dyer said.

When asked exactly where Mateen visited, and whether the locations included theme parks as reported in news accounts, Dyer said, "I think it's been pretty accurately depicted on the news." He gave no further details.

Agent Hopper said so far, they did not believe, Mateen had any other intended targets the evening of the attack.

A survivor of the massacre, 20-year-old Patience Carter, shed more light on Mateen's thinking, saying he talked about wanting America to "stop bombing my country" — a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan.

A number of possible motives and explanations have emerged, with Mateen calling 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill and his father suggesting he hated gays.

On the night of the shooting, Mateen posted a number of messages on his Facebook page.

One read, "You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance [sic]."

"In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State [ISIS] in the usa," another post read.

On Tuesday, the picture grew more complex when a U.S. official said the FBI was looking into a flurry of news reports quoting people as saying Mateen frequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay dating apps. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and lashed out, or else was casing the nightclub and trying to find potential victims online.

Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay and said that if he had been in the nightclub before, he may have been "scouting the place."

Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill and abusive. Amid the latest reports about his club-going, she told CNN: "Well, when we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife and there was a lot of pictures of him."

"I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about," she said.

Mateen recently purchased the weapons used in the attack in Port St. Lucie.

CBS4's Carey Codd learned Mateen, who was a security guard for G4S Secure Solutions, had been rejected for a law enforcement academy in March of 2015.

That news came out just a few hours after it was revealed Mateen passed a psychological exam and a weapons test that enabled him to work as an armed security guard.

As reported, Mateen was also looked at by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 but was cleared.

In Washington, D.C., Florida Sen. Bill Nelson filed legislation that would prevent someone who has previously been investigated for terrorism from buying a gun. He also filed legislation that would alert the FBI if an individual that falls under these circumstances attempts to buy a gun.

"Why shouldn't the FBI be notified that the person who has just purchased the weapon had been on the terrorist watch list," Sen. Nelson asked on the Senate floor. "It's common sense. I don't think that even the NRA can object to this, and they are accustomed to getting their way around here because this does not in any way inhibit the purchase of that firearm."

Meanwhile, a crowd gathered Wednesday for the first funeral for a victim of the shooting, Javier Reyes.

There will be many more funerals to come.

The medical examiner for Orange County, Dr. Joshua Stephany, says seeing the crime scene at the nightclub was unlike anything he'd dealt with.

"You can prepare and be ready and it will never completely prepare you for the actual incident," he said.

Anyone with information in the case is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or submit a tip on their website.

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