ORLANDO, Fla. – FBI agents were unable to conclusively determine which gun bullets that hit Pulse nightclub victims were fired from, according to a newly released ballistics report.
The FBI report was released Thursday more than two years after the June 12, 2016, massacre that left 49 people dead and dozens of others injured. The ballistics report includes analysis on hundreds of bullets, cartridge cases and metal fragments recovered from the scene.
Analysis on the 40 bullets, 45 metal fragments and one cartridge case removed from 30-plus victims was inconclusive, meaning that FBI agents could not definitively say whether they came from one of the guns Omar Mateen fired or from one of the 14 fired by law enforcement officers who responded to the scene.
In some cases, the bullets or fragments could be excluded from belonging to certain firearms because they were a different classification. There were times when officials noted that the inconclusive bullets beared similarities to other bullets that had been positively identified as coming from one of Mateen's gun.
The report was released two weeks after the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office announced that the 14 officers who fired their weapons during standoffs with the gunman inside the club did not injure any victims. The shooting review cleared the dozen-plus officers of any wrongdoing.
"While there is no way to take away the pain and the devastation that has been imparted upon our community, it is my hope that sharing the results of this investigation will help survivors and the loved ones find closure and answer any questions," State Attorney Aramis Ayala said on Feb. 13. "They do deserve to have answers."
Orange County Sheriff John Mina stood behind those findings on Thursday.
"All officers and deputies were cleared by the State Attorney's Office. They concluded based on evidence that none of the rounds fired by law enforcement killed or injured anyone but the shooter and that their actions were reasonable and justified," Mina tweeted.
To read the 55-page report in its entirety, click here.