Judge orders Pulse shooter's calls released immediately

Relatives of Pulse victims: Give more info on shooting investigation

ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orlando judge ordered Monday that all calls to and from Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen made on the night of the massacre be released immediately.

Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber will listen to the remaining 22 hours of 911 calls made during the Pulse shooting and determine whether more calls can be released to the public.

Mateen's 28 minutes of calls with OPD Crisis Negotiators will be posted later Monday on the city of Orlando's website.

The city and multiple news outlets have been fighting over the release of all the 911 calls connected with the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Schreiber listened to arguments Monday from attorneys for the city of Orlando and attorneys for The Associated Press and more than two dozen other news outlets.

The city of Orlando said the 232 calls depict suffering and death and shouldn't be made public.

The judge invited family members of the 49 victims who died to testify at the hearing. As of 11 a.m. Monday, six family members of shooting victims had testified against releasing the calls to the public. 

Many of the family members and their representatives who testified Monday said they want more information about the shootings. Several family members testified that they would support a release of transcripts of the calls to get a timeline of events during the shooting.

Wilhemina Justice, shooting victim Eddie Justice's mother, told News 6 she doesn't need to hear the calls.

"Some of [the families] want to know, some of us don't," Justice said. "We don't need to know because we can't move on if you keep trying to remember that part."

The FBI has offered no indication of when its probe into the shootings, which also left 53 people wounded will be complete.

City officials have released two-thirds of the calls, but have refused to release more than 200 calls placed to and from the nightclub during the three-hour massacre on June 12.

"We have to keep reliving this over and over and over," said Justice. "It's like it never ends."

Watch News 6 and stay with ClickOrlando.com for more on this story.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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