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Gun violence in the US
WorldUnited States & Canada

FBI: lab tests of bullets from victims of Pulse nightclub massacre were inconclusive

  • Report shows bullets pulled from victims lacked identifiable marks to match them to one of shooter Omar Mateen’s guns or law-enforcement weapons

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June 2016 photo of law enforcement officers at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, following the mass shooting. Photo: AP
Tribune News Service
The FBI’s testing of bullets recovered from victims of the Pulse massacre was unable to conclusively show who fired the shots that killed them, a report released on Thursday by the agency shows.

The release comes two weeks after the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office said none of the Pulse victims were wounded by the 14 law enforcement officers who fired their weapons during the police response to the June 12, 2016, mass shooting.

Deborah Barra, chief assistant for State Attorney Aramis Ayala, said the FBI’s report “was compared to and analysed with medical examiner reports, eyewitness statements and video evidence” during the office’s probe.

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People outside Pulse after the shooting on June 12, 2016. Photo: EPA/Univision Florida Central
People outside Pulse after the shooting on June 12, 2016. Photo: EPA/Univision Florida Central

“There is not one singular piece of evidence that by itself tells the full story of the Pulse nightclub shooting,” she said. The ballistic report, she insisted, “is consistent with all of the other evidence and was helpful in establishing facts”.

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The FBI, which previously denied requests for records from its review of the massacre, posted the report on its website. The agency declined to comment on its findings.

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