In the midst of the chaos early Sunday morning at Pulse nightclub, the team at News 13 in downtown Orlando was covering the story when a producer took an ominous phone call. 
 
 Overnight producer answered News 13 phone 
 
 Caller claimed to be Pulse nightclub shooter 
 
 Producer: 'I will never forget the words he said to me' 
 
 "News 13, this is Matt," is how Matthew Gentili, a producer at News 13, answered the phone. 
 
 Gentili knew something wasn't right. 
 
 "I was receiving phone calls from viewers saying, 'What's going on? What's happening? What's happening in Orlando?" Gentili recalled Tuesday. 
 
 Sharing with viewers the horror taking place just a few blocks down the street became Gentili's first priority — until a phone call made him pause. 
 
 "I will never forget the words he said to me," Gentili said. 
 
 About 45 minutes after the shooting began, the phone rang inside the News 13 newsroom. 
 
 "It was at 2:45 a.m. when I had just received the phone call of someone claiming to be the Orlando shooter," he said. "I answered the phone as I always do: 'News 13, this is Matt.' And on the other end, I heard, 'Do you know about the shooting?' " 
 
 Gentili said he was aware of the shooting. "Yes, I'm getting calls. I am hearing reports of a shooting," he replied to the caller, who then cut him off. 
 
 "I'm the shooter. It's me. I am the shooter," the person on the other end said. 
 
 Gentili said he didn't know what to say. The caller then started to say he committed the shooting for the Islamic State (militant group). 
 
 "He did it for ISIS, and he started speaking Arabic," Gentili said of the early morning phone call. "At the time, I didn't know what he was saying. He was speaking so fast. But it was ... he was speaking fluently. Whatever language he was speaking, he knew it. And he was speaking it very quickly. And that is when I said to him, 'Sir. Please. Speak in English, please.'" 
 
 Gentili said the caller stopped and said: "I did it for ISIS. I did it for the Islamic State." 
 
 Gentili said he asked where the caller was, but the caller said it was "none of my (expletive) business." 
 
 Sitting at his desk in the newsroom, Gentili said there was a long pause before he asked one final question. 
 
 "It was silent for a while. I asked him: 'Is there anything else you want to say?' " Gentili said. "He said no and hung up the phone." 
 
 Gentili sat and replayed in his head what had just happened. He heard nothing in the background. 
 
 After completing a 12-hour shift, Gentili was interviewed at home by the FBI. 
 
 Agents won't confirm whether Gentili spoke to the gunman, but News 13's managing editor was able to research the phone number from which the call came, and it matched to Omar Mateen. 
 
 "I'm definitely changed," Gentili said. "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." ||||| Lee Bentley, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Central Florida, said it's still too early to say if Omar Mateen's wife – or anyone else -- will be charged in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub. 
 
 There are questions about what she knew before the attacks Sunday morning at Pulse nightclub and if she could have alerted authorities. 
 
 Bentley said "no stone will be left unturned" and his office and the FBI will look into everyone in Mateen's life. Mateen shot to death 49 people and wounded more than 50. 
 
 "You will not find a more exhaustive or thorough investigation anywhere else in the United States," he said. 
 
 FBI Special Agent Ron Harper said investigators will continue to process the scene at the club, including trajectory analysis and crime scene mapping. 
 
 There are also vehicles from patrons still located in the parking lot that have not been released. The owners of the vehicles can call the help line at 407-246-4357. 
 
 Orlando police Chief John Mina said the first responding officers and SWAT team members received stress management debriefing sessions on Tuesday. 
 
 "The purpose of that debriefing was to talk about how they were feeling, to vent to their peers and to talk about their experiences to help them cope and heel from this tragic situation," Mina said. "No one can prepare you for what those officers saw that night." 
 
 Gov. Rick Scott also spoke, calling the massacre an "attack on the gay community, the Hispanic community, Orlando, our state and a terror attack on our nation." 
 
 CAPTION Founder of Pulse nightclub, Barb Poma, talks with Paul Brinkmann about the planning for a Pulse memorial, and about her desire to open a new club. Founder of Pulse nightclub, Barb Poma, talks with Paul Brinkmann about the planning for a Pulse memorial, and about her desire to open a new club. CAPTION Founder of Pulse nightclub, Barb Poma, talks with Paul Brinkmann about the planning for a Pulse memorial, and about her desire to open a new club. Founder of Pulse nightclub, Barb Poma, talks with Paul Brinkmann about the planning for a Pulse memorial, and about her desire to open a new club. CAPTION The Pulse nightclub shooter's widow is asking for her trial to be held somewhere outside Orlando, alleging she could not get a fair trial in the city. The Pulse nightclub shooter's widow is asking for her trial to be held somewhere outside Orlando, alleging she could not get a fair trial in the city. CAPTION A judge has approved a request from prosecutors for Noor Salman, widow of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, to undergo a mental evaluation. A judge has approved a request from prosecutors for Noor Salman, widow of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, to undergo a mental evaluation. CAPTION An online petition calling for rainbow-colored crosswalks near Pulse nightclub is gaining support. An online petition calling for rainbow-colored crosswalks near Pulse nightclub is gaining support. CAPTION Central Florida faith leaders joined LGBT advocates Monday to urge Gov. Rick Scott to honor pledge his staff made after the massacre to protect the rights of LGBT state employees. Central Florida faith leaders joined LGBT advocates Monday to urge Gov. Rick Scott to honor pledge his staff made after the massacre to protect the rights of LGBT state employees. 
 
 Victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting and their families can now seek various services at Camping World Stadium as a part of the city's Family Assistance Center, Dyer announced this morning. 
 
 The stadium is providing access to counseling, travel, translation, legal advice and other services to those directly hit with the shooting that killed 49 early Sunday morning. The center will be open through at least Sunday. Dyer announced the center at a vigil Tuesday night at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. 
 
 "Hopefully today we'll be able to sit down and assess exactly what [families] need," said Terry DeCarlo, executive director at The Center. "We don't want them to have a worry in the world." 
 
 Some families may need gift cards for groceries or clothing. Others have travel needs, legal advice or help organizing funeral services. Dyer said some cars parked outside of Pulse belong to the deceased, and families may need to transfer titles to recover those vehicles. 
 
 Officials designed the FAC to cater to all affected by the shooting, including survivors, and could even help family members find extended housing or a job if their loved one will be hospitalized long term, DeCarlo said. 
 
 "We have the ability to handle anybody who might come here," Dyer said. 
 
 Six hundred counselors have donated their time to help at the FAC, DeCarlo said, and organizations that are present within the FAC are picking up the cost. 
 
 Dyer said the FAC encompasses the entire building, with various booths set up on the concourse level. Private counseling and services will take place in stadium suites. 
 
 rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com ||||| Nearly one decade ago, Orlando mass killer Omar Mateen was fired from a briefly held job as a state corrections officer, newly released records show. 
 
 But exactly why remains unclear — and whatever led to his firing, it wasn’t enough to keep him from becoming a gun-wielding security guard just months later. 
 
 The state records show that Mateen passed a psychological exam to earn that firearms license. He was also a crack shot. His firearms tests showed he performed well in training, sometimes at the very Port St. Lucie gun range where he purchased the weapons used in Sunday’s Orlando nightclub massacre. 
 
 Those were the revelations in state records authorities released Wednesday documenting Mateen’s licenses to carry firearms and work as a security guard in Florida. 
 
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 The only blemish, the records show, is that Mateen’s firearms license was briefly suspended when he failed to submit paperwork to the state. 
 
 The documents shed some new details into the employment history of Mateen, 29, who worked for G4S Security Solutions for nearly nine years; the company was previously known as Wackenhut. 
 
 His history with the company has come under scrutiny since Mateen stormed the Pulse gay nightclub in downtown Orlando on Sunday, killing 49 people and wounding 53 in what was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. 
 
 The FBI said that agents investigated Mateen in May 2013 after he made “inflammatory” comments while working security with G4S at the Port St. Lucie courthouse. Co-workers said he claimed family ties to the al-Qaida terror network. 
 
 A 10-month investigation yielded no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and Mateen claimed he only made the statements because co-workers were teasing him about his Muslim faith. The feds also investigated him briefly in 2014 to see whether he had any ties to a Vero Beach suicide bomber who killed himself in Syria. 
 
 The records don’t reflect that the state ever knew he was investigated by the FBI. In his applications, he answered “no” to the question if he had ever been convicted of a crime. He had not. 
 
 Speaking on background, a G4S official said the FBI never raised any concerns about Mateen to the company. 
 
 But the company did know that agents had questioned Mateen — he himself “disclosed” it to a G4S lawyer as the company probed his claims of being harassed by his peers in 2013. As for the FBI investigation the following year, the company denies ever knowing about it. 
 
 Nevertheless, the company later moved him from the courthouse to a gated community, where he was not armed. 
 
 A former co-worker there, Daniel Gilroy, told the Miami Herald that he complained to no avail about Mateen’s virulent outbursts against gays and blacks. The company says it has no record of any complaints from Gilroy. 
 
 The U.S. born Indian River Community College graduate worked retail at gyms and nutrition stores and that short stint as a probationary officer “taking care of inmates” at the state’s Martin Correctional Institute. 
 
 The corrections records released Wednesday showed he was dismissed in May 2007 but don’t reveal why. A few months later, he caught on with GS4. He was approved after taking a 40-hour security-guard training program and 28 hours of firearms training. 
 
 Florida does not require a psychological evaluation to become a security guard, but does mandate one to carry a firearm as a security guard. G4S also conducts psychological evaluations for all of its guards. 
 
 Mateen’s driving record and credit also came back clean, the company official said. Mateen passed another criminal background check in 2013. 
 
 For his firearms licenses, Mateen — then 20 years old — was first evaluated psychologically in September 2007 on behalf of G4S. The psychologist who cleared him was listed as Dr. Carol Nudelman, then of South Miami. 
 
 Nudelman has been in the news before for evaluating a prospective G4S security guard who later turned to violence. In 1998, she passed Paul D. Ahern, who went on a shooting spree in Miami, killing two people and wounding a cop. 
 
 On Friday, Nudelman issued a statement saying her Florida practice had long since been closed, and she did not evaluate him. The company acknowledged Nudelman’s name on the “character certification” was a “clerical error,” and another doctor evaluated his test results. 
 
 The records show that over the years, Mateen received high marks on yearly shooting and written tests, eight of them in all. 
 
 Three of those tests took place at the St. Lucie Shooting Center, where federal authorities say Mateen bought the assault rifle and pistol he used in the massacre. His last visit was on Aug. 16, 2015. 
 
 The issue of screening of Florida security guards is a perennial source of scrutiny. 
 
 Last fall, Miami security guard Lukace Kendle was sentenced to life in prison for murder. He shot two unarmed men outside a strip club, killing one and paralyzing the other. After his arrest, he was twice found mentally incompetent by court-appointed psychologists. 
 
 In Mateen’s case, his state records were released as a host of media outlets, including the Miami Herald, have repeatedly asked the state to release Mateen’s 911 calls and other documents. 
 
 Mateen was likely inspired by Islamic extremism, according to the FBI and President Barack Obama, although there is no signs he acted on orders from anyone abroad. 
 
 The killer’s motives may have been more complicated — several club-goers have said that he himself was gay and frequented the club for months before the shooting. 
 
 Federal authorities and now a grand jury are weighing whether to charge Mateen’s wife, who acknowledged he had discussed targeting the club and Disney World. 
 
 In other developments on Wednesday: 
 
 ▪ The FBI urged people to report information about threats against mosques and Muslims in the wake of the killing. Special Agent Ron Hopper also asked citizens to report any past interactions with Mateen. 
 
 “No matter how big or small,” Hopper said. 
 
 ▪ Authorities opened the Orlando Family Assistance Center, located at the stadium commonly known as the Citrus Bowl. It’s a venue where family members can get help arranging funerals, securing room and board and getting grief counseling. 
 
 ▪ Central Florida leaders said they are preparing for a hate organization that is notorious for picketing funerals after high-profile tragedies. That group: the Westboro Baptist Church, which has drawn infamy for picketing funerals after national tragedies and displaying anti-gay messages. The group tweeted “Orlando Bound” after the shooting. 
 
 Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said police officers are on alert if the group shows up. 
 
 “It is a call for our entire community to rally behind what we believe — and that’s love and compassion,” Jacobs said. 
 
 ▪ News emerged that Mateen may have called a local TV news station during the shooting. According to News 13’s website, a TV producer named Matthw Gentili took a call from a man during the shooting. 
 
 “He did it for ISIS, and he started speaking Arabic,” Gentili told his station. “At the time, I didn't know what he was saying. He was speaking so fast.” 
 
 The man eventually hung up. ||||| Ron Hopper, FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Tampa Division, speaks during a news conference on the shooting investigation at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) 
 
 On the day of his rampage at a gay nightclub, the Orlando shooter posted messages on Facebook pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State and vowing that there would be more attacks in the coming days by the group in the United States, according to a letter sent to Facebook on Wednesday by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. 
 
 “America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state..I pledge my alliance to [Islamic State leader] abu bakr al Baghdadi ..may Allah accept me,” Omar Mateen wrote, according to the letter, which requested Facebook’s assistance in the investigation into the shooting that resulted in 49 deaths. 
 
 Mateen then posted, according to the letter: “The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west” and “You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance.” 
 
 At some point on Sunday, Mateen also searched on Facebook for “Pulse Orlando” and “Shooting,” according to Johnson. 
 
 The social media postings corroborate accounts that Mateen was motivated in part by a perceived connection to the Islamic State. The shooter made 911 phone calls during the shooting in which he pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, although he also apparently mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers. 
 
 The FBI investigated Omar Mateen twice before he killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post) 
 
 [After Orlando, gun control getting a fresh look from GOP] 
 
 FBI Director James B. Comey said earlier this week that there were no signs that Mateen was directly tied to any kind of network, and he added that it remained unclear exactly which extremist group he supported. Mateen’s references to terrorist groups have at times been muddled. Officials say he made comments in recent years to co-workers claiming he had family connections to ­al-Qaeda and was a member of Hezbollah, two opposing terrorist groups that have clashed repeatedly in Syria. 
 
 Mateen also apparently used Facebook in May to look for information on the terrorists behind the 2015 San Bernardino attack. On June 4, 2016, he searched “Baghdadi Speech,” according to Johnson’s letter. 
 
 Authorities continued Wednesday to seek answers about the gunman who carried out the shooting rampage here, expanding the investigation to include interviews with his relatives, friends and anyone else who may have had contact with him in the months before the attack. 
 
 [FBI under scrutiny after dropping past investigation of Orlando shooter] 
 
 Mateen had smoked marijuana, used steroids and been expelled from high school in the ninth grade for fighting, according to records dating to last year obtained by The Washington Post. 
 
 He said he had been convicted of a crime, placed on probation and had a criminal conviction sealed or expunged. He did not specify the offense. 
 
 1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What the investigation into the Orlando mass shooting looks like View Photos Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. Caption Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. June 15, 2016 Law enforcement officials gather outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the shooting investigation. David Goldman/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 He said he spoke excellent Farsi and good Arabic. The email address he listed using: niceguy43212001@yahoo.com. 
 
 Asked why he had never served in the U.S. military, Mateen said that he “wanted to stay close to family.” 
 
 Reached by telephone Wednesday evening, Mateen’s mother, Shahla Mateen, said she knew nothing of her son’s plans. 
 
 “No. Nothing. Nothing,” she said. 
 
 [Orlando shooter’s wife facing intense scrutiny from the FBI] 
 
 Mateen said “we” — she didn’t specify who else — were out of town and got back late last week. 
 
 “Friday I didn’t see him and just Saturday,” she said, before she stopped talking and hung up the phone. 
 
 A man later answered Shahla Mateen’s phone. He did not identify himself. 
 
 “We want to have our own life back again,” the man said. “We have a loss, and there are a lot of disasters and a lot of bad news and because of it and we don’t have a life.” 
 
 While the FBI said it views the shooting as a hate crime as well as an act of terrorism, officials said there were “no impending charges” in the case and declined to discuss whether any were forthcoming. 
 
 The FBI confirmed that it had interviewed the wife of Mateen, who was 29. Noor Z. Salman urged her husband not to do anything the night of the attack, said one U.S. law enforcement official. But the bureau also tried to play down this element of the investigation, saying it was part of the larger work of piecing together the gunman’s movements and motivations. 
 
 [Orlando gunman’s wife warned him not to carry out attack, official says] 
 
 “With respect to the wife,” Ronald Hopper, an FBI assistant special agent in charge, said Wednesday, “that is only one of many interviews we’re doing.” 
 
 Salman has not publicly commented on the attack, and she has not been seen since Monday night, when the Miami-based television station WSVN recorded video of the 30-year-old being escorted from her home in Fort Pierce, Fla. Her face was shrouded by the hood of her sweatshirt, and her left hand had what appeared to be a silver wedding band. 
 
 Former neighbors in Salman’s home town of Rodeo, Calif., an area of oil refineries about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, have described her as a shy and sheltered woman. 
 
 Jesus Torres, who attended middle school and high school with Salman, described her as quiet and smart, someone who hung out with the smart kids. He has remained in touch with her family since graduating from high school in 2004, and said he believed they were worried about her but did not want to pry. A neighbor told the Mercury News that Salman’s “mother would always complain” that Mateen never let his wife visit her family. 
 
 Salman’s romance with Mateen began online, and they were married on Sept. 29, 2011, in an Islamic ceremony in Hercules, Calif., a town near Rodeo, according to friends and public records. The couple have a 3-year-old son. 
 
 Jasbinder Chahal, who has lived across the street from Salman’s childhood home for the past 15 years, told the Associated Press that Salman did not appear to have lofty ambitions beyond marriage after graduating from high school in 2004. 
 
 “You know, some kids after high school, they open up the box and the world is theirs,” Chahal said. “She was inside the box — just pack it up and get married.” 
 
 She added: “Noor never played in the street, and the girls were never allowed to drive.” 
 
 The family lives in a beige split-level home with rose bushes out front in a neighborhood that is ethnically diverse and middle class. Many of the immediate neighbors are of Indian descent. 
 
 [After Orlando attack, prevailing view is there are ‘not any gays’ in Afghanistan] 
 
 Mohamed Diouf, 23, went to the same high school with Salman’s cousins Sana and Salam. Diouf described them as straight-A students — “a couple of the smartest ladies I’ve ever met.” 
 
 Diouf added about their mother: “She raised two successful, intelligent daughters that I got to grow up with, and I kind of respect that. I feel she’s someone to respect. The family is someone to respect.” 
 
 Diouf describes them as mainstream in their Muslim faith. He also grew up in a Muslim household. 
 
 “They’re like my parents — my mother and father, devout Muslims. It’s Ramadan right now. They would be fasting, they would be praying. They would wear their hijabs sometimes. But they were just regular people.” 
 
 On Wednesday, the family was holed up inside their home all day, with the shades drawn. Multiple visitors came and brought food and other household goods. 
 
 Salman accompanied Mateen at one point to buy ammunition and went with him on at least one trip to Pulse described as “reconnaissance” not long before the shooting, according to officials familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. 
 
 Whether she knew the purpose of that trip remains unclear. 
 
 Investigators are still working to corroborate what Salman told them during interviews, according to authorities, and will also try to determine if she suffered any abuse at the gunman’s hands. His first wife — Sitora Yusifiy, to whom he was briefly married in 2009 — said he beat her repeatedly while they were married. How authorities ultimately view Salman’s role and actions could change if she was a victim of abuse or feared for her life, officials say. 
 
 As investigators continue probing Mateen’s life, they are also scouring digital forensics and are trying to reconstruct his actions dating back months. Meanwhile, evidence technicians were methodically tracing the path of the barrage of bullets that flew inside Pulse as they attempted to diagram precisely what happened. 
 
 [The gun the Orlando shooter used was a Sig Sauer MCX, not an AR-15. That doesn’t change much.] 
 
 “We’re looking at everything,” Hopper said. 
 
 He also said authorities had found no evidence yet that Mateen intended to target any other locations, and officials said they had no information about any possible surveillance at Disney or any knowledge of Mateen patronizing clubs besides Pulse. 
 
 At least two witnesses at Pulse said Mateen had previously visited the club. President Obama, who is traveling to Orlando on Thursday, has called the shooting “an act of terror and an act of hate,” while FBI Director James B. Comey said authorities were working to see if anti-gay sentiment played into the decision to attack the club. 
 
 Mateen appeared to be a very skilled shooter, according to documents released Wednesday, repeatedly scoring high marks on tests needed to obtain firearms licenses. 
 
 After opening fire on scores of people inside the nightclub here early Sunday, Mateen then threatened to strap explosives to his hostages and left police fearing possible booby traps even after the attacker was killed, the city’s mayor said Wednesday. 
 
 No explosives or bomb vests were found, but suspicions of possible devices forced authorities to wait a “significant time” before entering the club and fully assessing the mayhem after a commando-style raid freed survivors and killed the gunman, said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. 
 
 Since Sunday’s attack, authorities have confronted a jumble of potential leads and loose ends. Among the unanswered questions were why an earlier FBI investigation into the gunman was closed two years before the shooting and whether Sunday’s slaughter at the popular gay club was an act of politically driven rage or triggered by personal demons — or even a mix of both. 
 
 Meanwhile, German investigators examined a Düsseldorf bank account held by Mateen’s father, who has claimed that his son visited him at his home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., the day before the attack and showed no hints of anger or anxiety. Germany’s Rheinischen Post reported that Mateen’s Afghanistan-born father, Seddique Mateen, posted the bank account details in a 2013 video soliciting donations — receiving only two payments totaling the equivalent of about $200. 
 
 There was no immediate indication of how the money was used, but the elder Mateen has been active in the Afghan expatriate community in the United States and elsewhere as a self-proclaimed political figure and analyst. 
 
 Survivors of the attack have relayed some of Mateen’s comments during the standoff with police officers, offering clues to his motivation. 
 
 One witness said that during the hostage standoff that followed the shooting spree, Mateen claimed he carried out the attack because he wanted “Americans to stop bombing his country.” While Mateen’s parents are from Afghanistan, he was born in the United States. Another witness said Wednesday that Mateen said, “America needs to stop bombing ISIS in Syria.” 
 
 The FBI said Wednesday that Mateen made phone calls during the standoff, but it has not publicly released any additional information on these calls. 
 
 Mateen made at least one phone call to an acquaintance he knew from Florida, two U.S. law enforcement officials said, but it is unknown what Mateen told this person. 
 
 Mateen’s phone has been recovered, and forensic experts were about to access the data, an official said. 
 
 Berman and Nakashima reported from Washington. Adam Goldman, Jennifer Jenkins, Sarah Larimer, Brian Murphy and Julie Tate in Washington; Emily Badger in Rodeo, Calif.; and Zachary Fagenson in Port St. Lucie, Fla., contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 How a heroic Marine’s military training helped him save dozens from Orlando gunman 
 
 For many victims, a freedom their parents couldn’t have imagined 
 
 Gunman who killed 49 in Orlando nightclub had pledged allegiance to ISIS ||||| The congregation joins hands during an interfaith service at the First United Methodist Church of Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, June 14, 2016. A gunman killed dozens of people at a gay nightclub in Orlando... (Associated Press) 
 
 The congregation joins hands during an interfaith service at the First United Methodist Church of Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, June 14, 2016. A gunman killed dozens of people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution... (Associated Press) 
 
 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — While his victims texted heartbreaking last words to loved ones from the blood-drenched floors of packed bathrooms, Omar Mateen apparently turned to social media to measure the viral shockwaves his attack on a gay nightclub had generated. 
 
 As this grief-stricken city prepares to bury the first of the 49 who perished at the Pulse dance club, a Senate Committee has asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg for help uncovering the trail of hate Mateen left behind in cyberspace. 
 
 "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west," the 29-year-old American-born Muslim wrote on one of at least five Facebook accounts believed to be associated with him, according to the letter from Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. 
 
 The call comes as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Orlando on Thursday. On Wednesday, drag queens and motorcyclists paid their respects at a visitation for Javier Jorge-Reyes, beginning the long procession of rainbow-hued sendoffs for Mateen's victims. 
 
 In the letter released Wednesday, Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said the security guard and wannabe police officer took time Sunday to search on Facebook for "Pulse Orlando" and "Shooting." The attack took place early that morning. 
 
 The letter also said Mateen made a series of Facebook posts in addition to performing the searches, and that the activity online took place before and during his attack. It does not specify what took place when. 
 
 A person familiar with the situation who is not authorized to speak publicly said the Facebook posts came moments before the attack began. 
 
 "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state," he wrote that morning, according to the letter. As he did in his call to a 911 operator during the massacre, Mateen pledged his allegiance on Facebook to the leader of the Islamic State and, in his final post, warned: "in the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic state in the usa." 
 
 The committee asked Facebook to produce information on Mateen's online activity and to provide a briefing to the panel. A spokesman for the FBI did not immediately return a call for comment, and Facebook had no immediate comment. 
 
 The three-hour rampage began at 2 a.m. Sunday and ended with Mateen being killed by a police SWAT team. The FBI said it is still gathering evidence at Pulse and analyzing cellphone location data to piece together Mateen's activities leading up to the massacre. 
 
 On Saturday night, hours before the rampage, Mateen visited Disney Springs, an outdoor restaurant, retail and entertainment complex at Walt Disney World, an official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss the continuing investigation told The Associated Press. 
 
 The official said it is not clear what Mateen was up to. 
 
 A key topic for investigators is how much Mateen's Palestinian-American wife may have known about the plot. An official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe 30-year-old U.S.-born Noor Salman knew ahead of time about the attack. 
 
 Investigators have spoken extensively with her and are working to establish whether she recently accompanied Mateen to the club, said a second official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. 
 
 U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley repeatedly refused to say whether charges might be brought against the wife or anyone else. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Tucker contributed from Washington. Associated Press writers Jack Gillum in Washington; Michael R. Sisak in Philadelphia; Jay Reeves, Allen G. Breed and Tamara Lush in Orlando; and Holbrook Mohr in Port St. Lucie, Florida; and Brandon Bailey in San Francisco contributed to this report.
– Omar Mateen used Facebook before—and even during—the Orlando mass shooting, ranting against the West and searching for posts on the massacre, according to a lawmaker's letter to Mark Zuckerberg. Sen. Ron Johnson, GOP chair of the Homeland Security Committee, quotes posts including: "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west" and "You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes ... now taste the Islamic state vengeance" in a letter asking Zuckerberg for his assistance investigating the attack, the AP reports. According to Johnson, Mateen searched Facebook for "Pulse Orlando" and "shooting" on Sunday morning, apparently when the mass shooting was already underway. In other developments: Mateen was kicked out of high school in the ninth grade for fighting, according to records seen by the Washington Post. The records also state that he used marijuana and steroids and had been convicted of a crime, though records do not specify the offense. A student at Indian River State College tells NBC News that Mateen was rejected from a six-month law enforcement training program last year. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, says he "worked very hard to put him in the police academy." News 13 reports that Mateen called the station during the rampage, telling producer Matthew Gentili, "I'm the shooter. It's me. I am the shooter." Gentili says the caller said he "did it for ISIS." It's too early to say whether Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, will face charges, the US Attorney for the Middle District of Florida tells the Orlando Sentinel. Lee Bentley promises that "no stone will be left unturned" and that "you will not find a more exhaustive or thorough investigation anywhere else in the United States." Insiders say Salman told federal agents that she tried to talk Mateen out of the shooting. The Miami Herald reports that Orlando has opened a center at the Citrus Bowl Stadium to deal with bereaved family members. The city is also bracing for the arrival of anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church. The New York Times spoke to Joshua Stephany, Orlando’s chief medical examiner, who lost count of how many autopsies he performed this week. "Take a typical homicide scene, multiply it by 50, even that just won't prepare you for what you see," he says. Stephany says that out of respect for the victims, Mateen's body is being kept in a separate area of the morgue that is normally used for decomposing bodies. (A Pulse survivor says Mateen claimed he wanted to spare black people.)