ORLANDO, Fla. — A judge ordered the city of Orlando to release audio recordings Monday of the Pulse nightclub gunman talking to police dispatchers and negotiators.
The judge said that she needed to listen to the other 911 calls to make the decision.
Omar Mateen enunciates emphatically to a police negotiator that he needs to tell the U.S. government to stop bombings in Syria and Iraq. The calls began at 2:35 a.m.
In one of the calls, which happened shortly before 3:30 a.m., Mateen told the hostage negotiator that he wants the U.S. to stop bombing Syria and Iraq.
“Tell me what’s going on right now, Omar,” said the negotiator.
“What’s going on is that the airstrikes need to stop. They’re killing my people,” Omar said.
“I’ve heard that and I want you to come outside and tell us that yourself so the message rings true from you. Not me passing along your message. I need you to come outside with no weapons,” the officer said, before Mateen hung up.
In another call, Omar stayed silent on the phone as the negotiator told him, “I’m trying to help you, let’s not let this go further. Please let us peacefully resolve this with your assistance.”
Mateen told the officer that he was upset with the killing of a suspected terrorist.
The officer asked Mateen if there was someone else with him, likely to find out if another shooter was involved.
“That’s none of your business,” Mateen said.
He went on to say, “The airstrikes need to stop, and stop collaborating with Russia.
“I can pass that along,” the officer said.
Mateen then cut the officer off and said, “Let it be known that in the next few days you’re going to see more of this type of action.”
“Where is that going to happen?” the officer asked.
“That’s none of your business. Just let it be known it’s going to be done in the name of the Islamic State. Even though it’s not (expletive) airstrikes, it (expletive) strikes here” Mateen said. “A lot of innocent children are being killed in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Now you feel how it is.”
“I understand and share that concern,” the officer said. “Tell me how we can peacefully resolve this.”
Mateen went on to stress that he wanted the airstrikes to stop and said he had planted bombs, “that could take out a whole block,” but would not specify the locations. There were no bombs planted.
The shooter also asked if the negotiator would like to know how many and what type of weapons he had.
“Do you want to know what type of weapon I have? Or do you want to know how many weapons I have?” Mateen said.
In that same audio recording, the negotiator works to keep Mateen on the phone and urges him to tell him more about his message.
Mateen also spoke to a 911 dispatcher.
"I want to let you know, I'm in Orlando, and I did the shooting," Mateen told the dispatcher in a steady voice before the dispatcher asks his name. "My name is — I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State."
Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber listened to arguments from attorneys for the city of Orlando and attorneys for more than two dozen news outlets.
The hearing became a forum for family members to express their frustration over the lack of information released about the investigation.
Many of the half dozen family members and their representatives who testified Monday in an Orlando courtroom said they want more information about the shootings that left 49 people dead at Pulse Nightclub on June 12.
The FBI has offered no indication of when the probe into the shooting that also left 53 people wounded will be done.
Media groups want the calls released so the public can evaluate the police response to the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
City officials have released two-thirds of the calls. They have refused to release more than 200 calls placed to and from the nightclub during the three-hour massacre on June 12.
The city of Orlando said the 232 calls depict suffering and shouldn't be made public.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.