And a former classmate at the Indian River Community College police academy told the Palm Beach Post that he’d once been asked out by Mateen, who he believed to be gay but closeted.
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At least four regular customers at the Orlando gay nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people said Monday that they had seen the killer, Omar Mateen, there before.
“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer”, the former classmate said, claiming Mateen had asked him out.
A regular Pulse club-goer said the gunman had been messaging him on and off for a year on gay dating app Jack’d. He said Mateen called 911 around the time of the attack and not only pledged loyalty to the Islamic State but also expressed solidarity with the Tsarnaev brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing and a suicide bomber who died on behalf of the al-Nusra front, a group at odds with the Islamic State.
Mateen appeared to regularly interacted with men over gay dating apps, one man told MSNBC.
The three-hour rampage at the gay nightclub began at 2 a.m. Sunday and ended with the 29-year-old American-born Muslim being killed by a police SWAT team.
The Associated Press reported that Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said Mateen wrote that “real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west” on Facebook in the final hours of his life.
Over the past two years, the Islamic State has targeted gay men for death in keeping with its radical interpretation of Islam, throwing dozens of them from tall buildings in Iraq and Syria. If he had seen anything differently, he said, “I would have called law enforcement immediately”.
“I know there’s plenty of other guys who he has probably tried to contact and hook up from”, Cedeno told Hayes.
Stephany’s details come as the nation continues to grieve over those killed and the 53 injured by Mateen, who officials say sympathized with Islamic State. “He said, I don’t want to sit in a guardhouse checking IDs, I want to be around people”.
Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told CNN on Tuesday that he acknowledged enjoying clubs and nightlife, but she’s not sure whether he had any homosexual tendencies.
Comey said the bureau is also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source.
The pair also said they had seen him escorted drunk from Pulse on more than one occasion. He said the younger man was telling him about his ex-wife.
People gather at a vigil for Pulse nightclub victims at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando, Fla., Monday, June 13, 2016.
“When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past-that was recent at that time-and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife”, said Yusufiy, who divorced Omar Mateen in 2011 and said he was abusive and unstable.
Henson said Mateen purchased both guns legally, and separately, and did not buy or inquire about body armor.
Police Chief John Mina said officers held back for some time because Mateen indicated he had a bomb vest.
The FBI investigated Mateen for 10 months starting in 2013 but found no evidence of a crime or connection with a militant group.
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Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, said he was in shock and wasn’t aware of anything his son had been planning.
