mateen
An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who police have identified as the gunman in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016. REUTERS

The wife of the gunman who launched a deadly rampage in a gay nightclub Sunday in Orlando, Florida, may end up facing criminal charges in connection with the massacre. Noor Zahi Salman said she tried to talk Omar Mateen out of his apparently planned attack on the Pulse nightclub, but the fact that she was with him when he bought gun-related equipment may be most damning for her, NBC News reported.

Salman also reportedly drove Mateen to the Pulse nightclub to case the location of what would become the scene of the deadliest mass shooting on U.S. soil. She could be charged as an accessory for her alleged role in assisting him when he bought ammunition and a holster. Law enforcement has said she is cooperating.

Salman, as identified by the New York Post, was seen early Tuesday morning at the home she'd shared with Mateen gathering her belongings and shielding her face from cameras. She arrived to the Fort Pierce, Florida, home only because it had been burglarized and she wanted to preserve her personal items, the New York Daily News reported.

Mateen also made several surveillance trips to the Pulse nightclub without Salman, CNN reported, in addition to taking several trips to a location within the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. Those trips were taken as recently as between June 1 and June 6, but it was not immediately clear how many times he visited those locations. However, Mateen apparently bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle and handgun he used during the shooting in that same time period.

While Mateen's first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, has widely stated he physically abused her, the status of Salman's relationship with her legal husband was not immediately clear. Salman is listed on a mortgage document dated 2013 for a property in St. Lucie County. It was unclear if that is the same property where she picked up her personal belongings early Tuesday morning.

Yusufiy has also stated Mateen was "mentally unstable" and possibly gay, the Dallas Morning News reported.

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