Orlando Shooter's Wife Has Ties To Chicago Area: Reports

Oak Lawn, IL — The wife of Omar Mateen, the shooter in Sunday’s deadly massacre at an Orlando gay bar and who is now being investigated for possible criminal charges, lived for a short time in Oak Lawn, news reports said.

Noor Zahi Salman, 30, lived in an Oak Lawn apartment prior to her marriage to 29-year-old Mateen. Before that, Salman, who is believed to be of Palestinian descent, lived in a Berwyn apartment, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

A former Oak Lawn neighbor, Samantha Rivera, described Salman as being a quiet and standoffish person who stayed in her apartment.

“She never wore a hijab or anything like that,” Rivera told ABC 7 Chicago. “We do have a lot of Muslim people here in Oak Lawn, but she never stood out as a typical Muslim woman.”

Law enforcement sources have told CNN that Salman is being investigated for possibly having prior knowledge of her husband’s plans to shoot up the Pulse nightclub. Salman, whose last name is also being reported in the news as Mateen, lived in a Florida apartment with her husband and their 3-year-old son.

Mateen died in a shootout with police in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Salman is alleged to have told FBI investigators that Mateen lied about where he was going last Saturday night. She also said that her husband became “self-radicalized” in the past year, CNN recounts.

Investigators believe that Salman may have accompanied her husband to Pulse earlier this month presumably so he could case the nightclub. She is also reported to have been with him when he purchased ammunition a few days before opening fire at Pulse and slaying 49 people and wounded 53 others.

Authorities are trying to determine how much she knew, if anything, of her husband’s intentions. If she did know something about her husband’s plans and failed to inform police, she could face felony charges.

NBC News reports that sources have told them Salman allegedly told FBI investigators that she knew about her husband's plans and tried to talk him out of it.

Salman has reportedly denied to authorities any knowledge of her husband’s plans.

Photo: Noor Zahi Salman and her husband, Omar Mateen, with their son. | NBC News