'Omar Mateen was gay': Orlando terrorist pursued a relationship with male classmate
Omar Mateen, the gunman who murdered 49 people in an Orlando gay club early Sunday morning, was a gay man himself according to multiple people who knew and had met the man.
A
gay man who attended the police academy in 2006 with Mateen said that
the pair went out to gay bars and that at one point Mateen told the man
he wanted to pursue a relationship.
Meanwhile,
multiple people are now coming forward to say that they had spoken with
Mateen on gay hookup apps including Grindr and Jack'd.
The
attack, which many assumed was an act of Islamic extremism, now appears
to possibly be tied to Mateen's own shame over his sexuality and
investigators are now looking into this internal conflict as
a possibly motive.
The
shooter's father, Seddique Mateen, made his beliefs on gay people very
clear in a video he posted to Facebook on Monday saying 'homosexuals
will be punished by God.'
ISIS
meanwhile, the terrorist group some believe Mateen killed in the name
of, executes gay men on a daily basis in horrific fashions.
'He's
a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men,' said Jim Van Horn, who
called Mateen a Pulse 'regular' and described his approach to chatting
with people in the club.
'He
would walk up to them and put his arm around them or something and
maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something and go over and
buy them a drink.'
Van Horn
also said he spent one night speaking with Mateen at the bar, but
halfway through the conversation his friends asked him to join them
outside.
'They said they didn't want me talking to him because he was a strange person,' said Van Horn.
'I recognized him off Grindr,' said an emotional Cord Cedeno in an interview with MSNBC on Monday, adding that he eventually blocked Mateen on the app because he was 'creepy.'.
Cedeno also recognized Mateen from the club, saying: 'He's been there several times. I know that for a fact.'
Kevin
West said he had spoke with Mateen on another gay hookup app, Jack'd,
for the past year, and that he was often ask him was clubs were
'popping.'
He
then saw Mateen at 1am Sunday as he crossed the street while making his
way towards Pulse just one hour before the start of the deadly
massacre.
'He walked directly past me. I said, "Hey," and he turned and said, "Hey," and nodded his head,' West told the Los Angeles Times.
West
went to police as soon as he saw pictures of Mateen in news reports,
handing over his phone and Jack'd login to FBI agents, who still had it
as of Monday.
Many in
the Orlando gay community are now coming forward to share similar
stories of seeing Mateen at clubs for the past decade or speaking to him
on hookup apps.
The former male classmate of Mateen who was once asked out by the mass-murderer told the Palm Beach Post that he would hang out with gunman alone and in groups, and that they went to gay clubs together during that year.
The
man, who did not wish to be named, was a classmate of Mateen's in 2006
when they both attended the Indian River Community College police
academy.
He also said that refused Mateen's romantic advances at the time.
'We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,' he said.
He said that he believed Mateen was gay and closeted, and that he was an 'awkward' figure.
'He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,' he said. 'He was always socially awkward.'
Regulars at Pulse said they saw Mateen several times over the past three years drinking alcohol and dancing with men.
A
couple who perform as drag-queens at the popular venue in 1912 South
Orange Avenue said they had seen the 29-year-old party at Pulse.
Ty Smith and Chris Callen said the father-of-one was sometimes so drunk he had to be removed from the club.
Callen,
who performs as Kristina McLaughlin, said: 'I’ve seen him a couple of
times at Pulse, a couple of other people that I’ve spoken with,
including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at
Pulse many times before.'
Smith said he'd seen Mateen at Pulse 'at least a dozen times.'
'We
didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about
his dad at times,' Smith said. 'He told us he had a wife and child.'
A security guard who worked at the club two years ago still remembered Mateen turning up to the venue, he added.
Orlando's
gay community is still reeling from the tragedy, and those who had seen
Mateen at gay clubs before seem to all have a story to share about his
temper.
Callen
said Mateen, who seemed like a 'nice guy' and was 'comfortable' with
the draq queens, threatened someone with a knife when he became angry
about a religious joke.
Remarks
that Mateen drank heavily conflict with his apparently strict adherence
to his Muslim faith, including regular worship at a mosque in his home
town of Port St. Lucie - where he was quiet and kept to himself.
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