Gun store owner: We called FBI before Orlando shooting

Ya can't make this stuff up... not that anyone would want to:

Gun store owner: We called FBI before Orlando shooting

The co-owner of a Florida gun store says his employees contacted law enforcement before the Orlando shooting after gunman Omar Mateen attempted to purchase body armor and ammunition.

BEFORE the shooting. BEFORE.

Mateen asked for level 3 body armor, according to Abell, but was told the store didn't carry it. He then made a phone call and spoke in Arabic before asking for bulk ammunition, but employees did not sell it to him.

Abell told reporters "we contacted FBI direct" after Mateen left the store but he did not elaborate on how investigators responded. He believed his employees did what they should have done, Abell said.

Mr. Abell is very specific: "we contacted the FBI direct." But just look at the weasel word response:

Law enforcement officials have told CBS News at this point, they have not found any evidence that the gun shop contacted police about Mateen's alleged suspicious behavior.

Ya think??? Why would they? Mr. Abell didn't say he contacted the police; he said he contacted the "FBI direct". No weasel words there. He is very specific. Why aren't they telling us what the FBI says about Mr. Abell contacting the "FBI direct"??? I think we know.

But to give major credit where major credit is due, three cheers for the employees:

Robbie Abell, co-owner of Lotus Gunworks, said Thursday his workers had a gut feeling about Mateen when he came to the store four or five weeks ago.

These guys rock

TOO bad the current POTUS is a traitor allowing them to hit us like this...

a reply to: Boadicea

If what they are saying is true, at least the store owners did the right thing.

a reply to: Boadicea

I am working under the assumption that the Obama administration shut down the FBI investigation because the cowardly ####stain's father was a big shot in Afghanistan.

Obama and Lynch will probably go after the Gunshop accusing them of both racism and homophobia for refusing to sell to a gay man and Muslim.

I'm sure he has a phone record of some sort?

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
TOO bad the current POTUS is a traitor allowing them to hit us like this...

I hope and pray it's not even worse than "allowing" hits like this... There's incompetence and honest mistakes and outright sabotage.

a reply to: Boadicea

This is why the investigation needs to run its course and people who are screaming for more laws from a reactionary standpoint need to calm down. If this is true the employees did the right thing, they 'saw something and said something' and guess who dropped the ball AGAIN? Uncle Sugar.

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: Boadicea

If what they are saying is true, at least the store owners did the right thing.

Yup! He may have been even more brazen and dangerous and taken even more lives if he'd obtained the armor. But just as important, they tried to "say something" after they "saw something." They did what they could.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Hillary will fix it.

I wonder who he was phoning from the gun store and speaking to in Arabic?

a reply to: DBCowboy

I'm afraid you're right. I suspect there is just a little too much deference given when "the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

And that's my best case scenario...

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Obama and Lynch will probably go after the Gunshop accusing them of both racism and homophobia for refusing to sell to a gay man and Muslim.

How sad is it that in today's upside-down topsy-turvy world, that is a very real possibility... perhaps even inevitability?

originally posted by: IAMTAT
I wonder who he was phoning from the gun store and speaking to in Arabic?

Someone will blame Donald Trump.

the FBI's problem is he was a full citizen making legal purchases

if you should be put under surveillance for buying something, maybe it should be illegal ?

Obviously the gun store owner was Islamophobic.

a reply to: Boadicea

I fear it may be the latter,you tell me...www.zerohedge.com...

Well you have a POTUS that runs "guns" to Mexican cartels/terrorist and wants to take law abiding Americans arms away? You kinda start to wonder where "they" found this clown and who's side is he on? I have no doubt this actually happened and it shouldn't surprise anyone. Except for the "educated".."common core" kind.

originally posted by: onequestion
I'm sure he has a phone record of some sort?

Good question... although they may have made the report in-person.

If CBS had quoted the FBI specifically as denying any contact, instead of deflecting as they did, I might be more inclined to question the truth of it.

technically at the time a crime hadn't been committed yet so I'm a little upset about these gun shop owners racial profiling the guy. I'm sure the whole time he was there he was given dirty looks and made to feel uncomfortable. Its these types of people who drive these people to do what they do. They make them feel less than human and if they no longer value their own life how do you expect them to value the life of a stranger.