ORLANDO, Fla. _ Jurors in the trial of Noor Salman watched graphic video of the Pulse massacre Thursday morning, including footage of Salman's husband, Omar Mateen, as he stalked the nightclub, spraying bullets.
The video traced a timeline of Mateen's assault on the club.
It showed club-goers dancing and mingling prior to the attack, as Mateen's vehicle pulled up outside the club. Minutes later, Mateen was shown entering the club through the front doors. As the gunfire began, victims began to collapse over one another, falling like dominoes atop of each other.
Mateen moved toward a bar in the back of the club, before shooting again. The video showed him reloading as people near him tried to crawl to safety. Mateen was the only person standing.
He opened fire again _ shooting people already lying on the dance floor. Jurors watched as Mateen walked toward the restroom where _ as the jury knows from other video shown yesterday _ he began firing shots into the bathroom stalls, where some had taken refuge.
Salman shielded her face from the evidence of her husband's rampage that was presented in court: video of her husband shooting, photos of his corpse, bloody images of slain victims and video of their falling bodies.
Prosecutors will call more witnesses Thursday morning as they continue to build their case against Noor Salman, the widow of Pulse nightclub massacre gunman Omar Mateen.
Salman is accused of aiding her husband in the planning of the attack at Pulse, during which Mateen killed 49 people and wounded dozens more, and also of lying to federal investigators afterward.
During opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers painted starkly different portraits of Salman. The government said she gave Mateen "a green light" to carry out the massacre, helping him scout targets and keep secrets; the defense portrayed her as a "trusting, simple" person unaware that she was living with a "monster."
The government then called several witnesses, including Orlando police Detective Adam Gruler, who was working as off-duty security at Pulse when Mateen began his rampage in the early hours of June 12, 2016.
"Time froze. There was no concept of any time for me," Gruler said, his voice quaking as he testified about entering the club minutes after the gunfire began. "No matter where we stepped, there was blood."
Jurors also heard from a survivor who played dead beneath a slain victim as Mateen stalked the club, a terrorism expert, a TV news producer who took a call from Mateen, and from the Orlando police hostage negotiator to whom Mateen proclaimed his support for the Islamic state, among others.
The evidence-and-testimony portion of the trial, which began Wednesday, is expected to last three weeks. Salman faces up to life in prison.
