Orlando Pulse nightclub gunman's 911 call full transcript text released

CB Condez Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations have released the full transcript of the 911 call made by gunman Omar Mateen on the night of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub June 12. This came after many criticized the government for releasing a redacted transcript that omitted references to Islam.

An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who police have identified as the suspect in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. | Reuters/Handout

"The purpose of releasing the partial transcript of the shooter's interaction with 911 operators was to provide transparency, while remaining sensitive to the interests of the surviving victimes, their families, and the integrity of the ongoing investigation," says the joint statement by the DOJ and FBI, posted on Twitter by ABC News.

It goes on to explain that they did not want to provide the killer or the terrorist organization with a platform for its propaganda.

"Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organization and leaders have caused unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime," it reads. "As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances."

Prior to the release of the full transcript, Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Chuck Todd of NBC's "Meet the Press" that authorities would not make public some portions of the transcript in which Mateen made "pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups" to "avoid revictimizing those who went through this horror."

However, Paul Rosenzweig, former Department of Homeland Security Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Christian Post that the "altering of Omar Mateen's 911 call transcripts is a foolish idea that won't work in the long run. It only opens up the Obama Administration to charges of political correctness."

House Speaker Paul Ryan also said that it is already known that the gunman was a radical Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS and that he intentionally targeted the LGBT community; thus, the administration should release the full transcript "so the public is clear-eyed about who did this, and why."

Real Clear Politics reports that after Mateen's 911 call, he talked with the Orlando Police Department's Crisis Negotiation Team three times: the first lasted for around 9 minutes; the second, around 16 minutes; and the third, around 3 minutes.