Gunman In U.S. Bloodbath Described As 'Quiet' However Grew Hateful

Gunman In U.S. Bloodbath Described As 'Quiet' However Grew Hateful

Gunman in U.S. bloodbath described as 'quiet' but grew hateful
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An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who Orlando Police have recognized as the suspect in the mass capturing at a homosexual nighclub in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 12, 2016. Omar Mateen through Myspace/Handout through REUTERS
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Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen, who attacked a gay night club in Orlando earlier than being shot dead by police, speaks with reporters at his home in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, U.S. June thirteen, 2016. REUTERS/Bernie Woodall
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FORT PIERCE, Fla. The photograph from Omar Mateen's highschool yearbook is hardly remarkable - a toothy, dimpled smile with a peach-fuzz mustache below a mop of black hair.
His transformation from highschool football player to perpetrator of America's worst mass taking pictures raises questions on whether purple flags had been missed over the depth of his apparent sympathies with Muslim extremists.
As households of the victims grieved and the nation recoiled on the scale of yet another mass capturing, a picture started to emerge of the 29-year-outdated killer as a quiet, devout person who in recent years displayed a hateful and violent streak.
Early on Sunday, he stormed a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, with a handgun and AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, fatally shooting 50 individuals earlier than police killed him. Fifty-three others have been wounded, many critically.
His ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, described him as "bipolar," and emotionally disturbed with a violent temper. She stated she had been crushed and in any other case bodily abused by Mateen during outbursts during which he would "express hatred in direction of all the things". She was "rescued" by relations simply 4 months right into a stormy marriage that began in 2009 and led to divorce, she mentioned.
"He would typically get into fights with his parents, but as I was the only one in his life most of the violence was directed in direction of me,” she informed reporters in Boulder, Colorado outdoors a house where she was staying.
She stated he aspired to be a police officer and had labored as a correctional officer at a detention middle for juvenile delinquents in Fort Pierce, Florida, and had once sought admission to a police academy.
In Fort Pierce on Florida's southeast coast, 120 miles (195 km) from the capturing, the imam at the mosque that Mateen attended for practically 10 years described him as an everyday worshipper who was quiet and infrequently interacted with the congregation.
"He hardly had any pals," Syed Shafeeq Rahman, who heads the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, advised Reuters. "He would come with his little son at evening to hope and after he would depart."
Rahman mentioned Mateen never approached him concerning any considerations about homosexuals. He normally prayed on the mosque a few times every week, principally in evenings and as lately as Friday, however he did not show signs of radicalism, according to fellow worshippers interviewed by Reuters.
Mateen was born in New York of Afghan descent but spent most of his life in Florida, attending Martin County Excessive College in Stuart, a small metropolis a few 20-minute drive from the Fort Pierce condominium the place had most just lately lived.
A classmate described him as a typical teen who performed football. A school yearbook image of Mateen was seen by Reuters.
Samuel King, who was one year ahead of Mateen, stated the 2 usually spoke after Mateen graduated in 2004. King waited tables at Ruby Tuesday's restaurant at Treasure Coast Sq., a mall where Mateen labored at GNC, the diet retailer, he stated.
King, who is openly homosexual, said the Mateen he knew until 2009 did not seem like anti-gay.
What's shocking to me is that almost all of the staff at Ruby Tuesday's when I worked there were gay. He clearly was not anti-(gay) a minimum of not again then. He didn't show any hatred to any of us."
Whereas at GNC, Mateen lifted weights and "acquired actually buff," King said, describing Mateen as gregarious and talkative within the instant years after high school. Something should have changed" since he last noticed him, he added.
Mateen's father, Mir Seddique, informed NBC News the bloodbath was not related to religion. He said his son turned indignant when he saw two men kissing in Miami a few months ago.
FBI INTERVIEWS
The FBI twice interviewed Mateen for having suspected ties to Islamist militants. The primary investigation passed off in 2013 when Mateen made inflammatory feedback to co-employees that indicated sympathy for militants, FBI particular agent in charge Ron Hopper instructed a information convention in Orlando.
On the time, Mateen labored as a security guard at G4S, a British-owned multinational company that's among the many world's largest private safety firms.
He joined G4S in September 2007, carried a gun as a part of his duties and was employed with the company at the time of the shooting as an armed safety officer, the company stated.
G4S provides safety to federal buildings in Florida.
Mateen was investigated and interviewed twice however the FBI was unable to verify the substance of his feedback,” Hopper stated.
Daniel Kime, a safety guard employed together with Mateen by at G4S in the Fort Pierce space, stated he met Mateen briefly three or 4 instances. "Every time I saw him he never smiled. In case you stated good morning, he'd just stroll proper by you, like he had a chip on his shoulder," Kime told Reuters.
Daniel Gilroy, who mentioned he was a co-worker of Mateen's at G4S, mentioned that Mateen's anger was "fixed."
"Any time a feminine or a black particular person would come by he would use horrible words," he informed Fox Information.

In 2014, Hopper said, Mateen was investigated and interviewed once more, this time for suspected connections to Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American citizen who became a suicide bomber in Syria in 2014.
Hopper mentioned Mateen's contact with Abu-Salha was minimal and it was deemed that he did not constitute a substantive threat at that time.”
'NOT A STABLE INDIVIDUAL'
Hopper stated Mateen was not under investigation or surveillance on the time of Sunday's assault.
He said Mateen referred to as throughout the bloodbath to pledge allegiance to Islamic State, often known as ISIS, which in recent years declared a caliphate over giant swathes of Iraq and Syria. But the depth of that dedication is unclear.
Mateen also mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers during the name, which he made 20 minutes into the shootings, authorities stated.
Mateen's former wife stated she met Mateen on-line about eight years ago and decided to maneuver to Florida to marry him, in line with the Washington Post.
"He was not a secure particular person," she said. "He beat me. He would just come residence and begin beating me up as a result of the laundry wasn't completed or one thing like that."
Mateen had a Florida firearms license that expired in 2013 and a state allow to work as a security guard, based on public records. He was registered as a Democrat.
Metropolis, state and federal officials had been looking out Mateen's condominium within the Woodlands condominium constructing in Fort Pierce and had informed different residents to evacuate.
(This story has been refiled to right headine in June 12 story to remove 'worst')
(Further reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles, Yeganeh Torbati and John Walcott in Washington, Bernie Woodall in Detroit and Yara Bayoumy in Fort Pierce.; Writing by Jason Szep.; Modifying by Nick Zieminski and Stuart Grudgings)
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