The American and gay pride flags fly at half-mast over the LGBT Community Center of Central Florida, Monday, June 13, 2016. A gunman killed dozens of people at a gay nightclub in Orland.
Advertisement
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The murky picture of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen grew more complex Tuesday with word that the FBI is investigating whether he had been a regular at the gay dance club he attacked and had been leading a secret life as a gay man.
Justice’s name would eventually be added to the list of the dead.
Omar Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan decent, is dead thanks to law enforcement officers, but the carnage he left in his wake should serve as wakeup call for President Obama and the millions of Americans around the country who foolishly believe treating Muslims who have ties to radical Islam with kid gloves is somehow acceptable.
Mateen, a US citizen and Muslim, professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a 911 call during the massacre in which Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others, some of whom remain in critical condition.
President Obama reminded his nation yesterday that the victims of this killing were gay. The FBI is also trying to establish how much Mateen’s wife may have known about the attack at Pulse dance club.
Although some men told stories of Mateen contacting them on social media platforms used by gay men, gay dating app Jack’d said it has been unable to confirm so far that Mateen had a profile on the service.
“The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west”, Mateen wrote, according to the letter from committee chairman Sen.
‘After 10 months of investigation, we closed the preliminary investigation, ‘ he said.
Even when the details accumulated and it appeared that Omar Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Caliphate of the Islamic State before he died in a firefight with the police, the difficulties in affixing the proper label remained.
However, “it is also not entirely clear at this point just what terrorist group he aspired to support”, said Comey at a briefing in Washington.
The attack early Sunday ended with Mateen being shot to death by a SWAT team. The FBI said it is still gathering evidence at the Pulse and analyzing cellphone location data to piece together Mateen’s activities leading up to the massacre, while also interviewing people who had any dealings with him. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Omar Mateen went to see his mom and dad before the shooting, just to say hello, his father said.
Wednesday night’s visitation was among the first chances for loved ones to pay respects to a victim. “That’s how he was shooting at people”, he said. Further counseling is being made available. “No one can prepare you for what those officers encountered that night”. The key word is domestic and using that word to describe the killing of at least 50 persons in the worst killing spree in American history as a home grown terror act is a huge departure from past practice.
An official who was briefed on the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe that 30-year-old USA -born Noor Salman knew ahead of time about Sunday’s attack, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone.
The men said they didn’t believe an account given Sunday by Mateen’s father about how the gunman had been disturbed by the sight of men kissing in downtown Miami.
A survey previous year by the Public Religion Research Institute found four in 10 U.S. Muslims support same-sex marriage – compared with 53 percent of all Americans who said the same. He said authorities are talking to hundreds of people and investigating everyone associated with Mateen, including family, friends and business associates.
Salman has been in seclusion for days.
Mateen, by the way, worked as a security guard for a company called G4S. The records say he took a written psychological test or was evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Advertisement
NBC News learned that Mateen traveled twice to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 “to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca”, according to a spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of the Interior. The FBI’s Hopper declined to comment on calls Mateen made during the rampage.
