US: Orlando shooter's wife tried to stop attack

NEW YORK

The wife of the alleged shooter at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub who killed scores of victims, told the FBI that she tried to talk her husband out of carrying out the attack, media reports said Tuesday.

Noor Zahi Salman told officials she was with Omar Mateen when he purchased ammunition and a holster, NBC news reported. She also once drove him to Pulse, the club where he launched the onslaught that many say is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Authorities have not decided whether to press charges against Salman for failing to report what she knew before the attack.

Mateen opened fire inside Pulse on Sunday, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more.

Mateen was born in New York to a family of Afghan heritage.

No clear motive for the shooting has been formally established.

Mateen was reported by the FBI to have declared support for various extremist or militant groups at odds with each other.

Hours after the shooting, his father, Mir Seddique, suggested that homophobia might have caused his son to carry out the massacre.

Some media reports purportedly based on witness accounts, claim that Mateen was a regular at Pulse.

Estella Peterkin, head of security at the club, told ABC News she kicked Mateen out of the nightclub on multiple occasions for disorderly conduct.

He was also reported to have used gay dating apps to contact a number of patrons at the club.