Orlando’s News 13 says the man who killed 49 in the Sunday attack on Pulse nightclub called the station 45 minutes after the shooting started.
“I’m the shooter. It’s me. I am the shooter,” News 13 producer Matt Gentili said a man told him around 2:45 a.m.
“I did it for ISIS,” the caller said. “I did it for the Islamic State.”
Gentili said the man spoke to him in Arabic until he asked him to speak in English. The caller hung up after being asked if there was anything he wanted to say.
“I’m definitely changed,” Gentili told his station. “When you get a phone call like that, I’m never going to be able to answer the phone again without thinking this is the most serious call I’ll ever get in my life.”
The FBI later interviewed Gentili about the call and wouldn’t confirm if he was speaking to the gunman, but News 13 says it tracked the cell number to Omar Mateen, the accused shooter.
[Washington Post]The Pulse nightclub gunman called the News 13 newsroom as the shooting was happening: https://t.co/MkeFGpyomZ pic.twitter.com/QLabUDSsv1
— Andrew O'Brien (@aobrien7) June 15, 2016