Noor Salman, the wife of Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, has been arrested on federal charges.
Salman is charged with "Aiding and Abetting by providing material support to a terrorist and Obstruction of Justice," Orlando Police Chief John Mina
said in a statement
On June 12, 2016, 49 people died when Mateen opened fire at Pulse in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. He was killed in a firefight with police.
Salman is due to make her initial court appearance at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Oakland, Calif.,
according to a tweet
"This is an example of the fact that investigations do continue long after they're publicly discussed," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch
said during an interview with MSNBC
Mateen and Salman married in 2011 in Contra Costa County, Calif.,
as The Two-Way has reported
"I was unaware of everything,"
Salman told The New York Times in a November interview
In a statement to NPR, Salman's attorney Linda Moreno reiterated that her client was not aware of Mateen's plans:
"Noor Salman had no foreknowledge nor could she predict what Omar Mateen intended to do that tragic night. Noor has told her story of abuse at his hands. We believe it is misguided and wrong to prosecute her and that it dishonors the memories of the victims to punish an innocent person."
As
NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has reported
"For example, she said she didn't know that the attack was coming, but she also told authorities that she tried to talk him out of the attack. She was with him when he bought ammunition last week. She actually joined him at the Pulse nightclub before the attack, although it's possible she didn't know that he was there to case the place. So a grand jury is looking at all of this. It's not clear if they'll bring charges, but they're certainly considering that."Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.