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ORLANDO, Fla. — The gunman who attacked a Florida gay nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said.
Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd.
But they never met — until early Sunday morning.
West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen — whom he knew by sight but not by name — crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cellphone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting.
"He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,' " and nodded his head, West said. "I could tell by the eyes."
At least four regular customers of Pulse, the nightclub where the massacre took place, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before.
"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries.
He saw Mateen at the club at least a dozen times, he said.
"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.
As soon as West saw photos released of Mateen after the shooting, he said, he drove to his local police station, where officers summoned FBI officials, who showed him a photo of Mateen on a computer screen.
"I said, 'That's him,' " West said, and turned over his phone and Jack'd log-in information to the FBI, which still had the phone late Monday, he said.
Also Monday, officials said Mateen appeared to have been radicalized by Islamic extremists on the internet but expressed sympathies with radical groups that violently oppose each other.
On Sunday morning, Mateen told a 911 dispatcher that he was attacking Pulse on behalf of the leader of Islamic State, FBI Director James B. Comey said at a news conference Monday. Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed by a SWAT team and was among the 50 found dead at the site. Fifty-three more were wounded.
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Isn't it a little odd that Mateen was going to gay bars if he was supposedly a devout Muslim who hated gays?
Thoughts? Comments?
Orlando gunman had used gay dating app, visited nightclub, witnesses say
hard to say if he was scouting it out or he was in the closet. who knows.
Seems pretty fishy to me. One guy from that club saw him so much on gay sites that he instantly recognized him the night of the shooting.
I've never been to a gay club, most straight guys wouldn't be that interested in going. I think Mateen may have been hiding quite a lot about himself. Good Muslim boy that hangs out at the gay bars.
Wasn't just one oerson. Several people have come forward saying they recognize him.
Seems pretty fishy to me. One guy from that club saw him so much on gay sites that he instantly recognized him the night of the shooting.
I've never been to a gay club, most straight guys wouldn't be that interested in going. I think Mateen may have been hiding quite a lot about himself. Good Muslim boy that hangs out at the gay bars.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The gunman who attacked a Florida gay nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said.
Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd.
But they never met — until early Sunday morning.
West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen — whom he knew by sight but not by name — crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cellphone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting.
"He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,' " and nodded his head, West said. "I could tell by the eyes."
At least four regular customers of Pulse, the nightclub where the massacre took place, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before.
"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries.
He saw Mateen at the club at least a dozen times, he said.
"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.
As soon as West saw photos released of Mateen after the shooting, he said, he drove to his local police station, where officers summoned FBI officials, who showed him a photo of Mateen on a computer screen.
"I said, 'That's him,' " West said, and turned over his phone and Jack'd log-in information to the FBI, which still had the phone late Monday, he said.
Also Monday, officials said Mateen appeared to have been radicalized by Islamic extremists on the internet but expressed sympathies with radical groups that violently oppose each other.
On Sunday morning, Mateen told a 911 dispatcher that he was attacking Pulse on behalf of the leader of Islamic State, FBI Director James B. Comey said at a news conference Monday. Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed by a SWAT team and was among the 50 found dead at the site. Fifty-three more were wounded.
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Isn't it a little odd that Mateen was going to gay bars if he was supposedly a devout Muslim who hated gays?
Thoughts? Comments?
Orlando gunman had used gay dating app, visited nightclub, witnesses say
Ive been once with a group of people and I'm straight. well twice actually but the second time was to a lesbian bar. had a lot of fun there.
Seems pretty fishy to me. One guy from that club saw him so much on gay sites that he instantly recognized him the night of the shooting.
I've never been to a gay club, most straight guys wouldn't be that interested in going. I think Mateen may have been hiding quite a lot about himself. Good Muslim boy that hangs out at the gay bars.
Well it would make him the second gay ISIS terrorist, the Belgian who orchestrated the Paris attacks was also known to frequent gay bars.
Not surprising at all. Makes a lot of sense, actually.
:lamoThere are a lot of straight women who go, so I could see a straight guy going for that reason. But gay date sites? Mateen was doing extra credit homework with that one.
To me too, and what irony...because I think this monstrous attack is going to unite Americans, period.
Too lazy to relink, but I read an article today at the Daily Mail in which Pulse patrons recalled how often Mateen had come to club and that he talked about his wife and little boy and father. Today the father said that he wouldn't "miss anything" about his son. There is part the story right there. Orlando shooter’s father: I won’t miss anything about my son | New York Post
I saw the father being interviewed by Don Lemon on CNN. BTW. Props to Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper trying to do their jobs during all of this which hits their community close to home.
Anyway back to the father. He sounds like a pretty traditional Muslim guy perhaps a tad bit Americanized by the way he was dressed and acted. Traditional in the sense that Yes he is very religious, but that he raised his son, payed for his college, and sent him off to school. Helped him find a job and that was that. I don't think he ever expected anything like this to happen but then again, it didn't seem like he had his eyes glued to his adult son's life.
Though the father should stop talking about gay people and sins and just talk about his own son and his sin! His son was obviously a deranged and unstable individual. The history of the wife raises questions as does the fact that he was in a gay nightclub in the first place. I think it's a picture perfect case of a closeted gay man who couldn't deal with this part of his life. On top of the fact that he probably would have to listen to his father attack his sexuality at times. It's enough to make anyone crazy and snap.
Ya Ya, but why did pops know nothing about what his kid was...or if he did know something why is he lying to us now.
I sure get the sense that he ain't too shocked.
I will wait for the report.
Because pops was on his nutty public access show proclaiming himself to be President of Afghanistan. He probably isn't real hip to a lot of stuff that's going on.
IDK...... when I see Israel, which I remind you is supposed to be our expert on these matters, bulldozing Palestinians homes because one person in the family is a criminal I kind of get the idea that family is important to the Islamists. Then I see the super low sexual assault rates across most islamic zones and so then this seems confirmed. I also hear that Iraqi men almost to a man openly weep to Lionel Richie, so I wonder (OK, this last bit is an exaggeration).
Ya see my point? If we were talking about white trailer trash I might believe it on assumption that pops is clueless, but here I am waiting before I make up my mind.
OK? Channeling Don
Lol, isn't Lionel Richie huge in Iraq? I seem to remember hearing that somewhere. It just sounds like it should be a thing.
THUD.
I was trying to show off that I know that.
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