Federal prosecutors are building their case against Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse nightclub massacre gunman Omar Mateen, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Salman is accused of aiding her husband in the planning of the attack at Pulse, when Mateen killed 49 people and wounded dozens more, and also of lying to federal investigators afterward. In opening statements, prosecutors and defense lawyers painted starkly different portraits of Salman. The government said she gave Mateen “a green light” to carry out the massacre, helping him scout targets and keep secrets; the defense portrayed her as a “trusting, simple” person unaware that she was living with a “monster.”
Orlando police detective Adam Gruler was working as off-duty security at Pulse when Mateen began his rampage in the early hours of June 12, 2016. “Time froze. There was no concept of any time for me,” Gruler said, his voice quaking as he testified about entering the club minutes after the gunfire began. “No matter where we stepped, there was blood.” Jurors heard from a survivor who played dead beneath a slain victim as Mateen stalked the club, a terrorism expert, a TV news producer who took a call from Mateen, and from the Orlando police hostage negotiator to whom Mateen proclaimed his support for the Islamic state, among others. The evidence-and-testimony portion of the trial, which began Wednesday, is expected to last three weeks. Salman faces up to life in prison.