Mateen also had expressed support for al-Nusra and other rogue organizations that are bitter enemies of the Syrian-based militant group. Comey said Mateen's comments were contradictory as he claimed his attack was in support of the Islamic State. Mina and FBI Director James Comey provided more details about Mateen, saying he talked to 911 dispatchers three times in the hours before he was killed by police. That review was ongoing and it was not immediately clear how seriously other locations were considered, the official said. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said investigators are reviewing Mateen’s possible consideration of other iconic targets in the Orlando area, including Disney World. "But I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child."Ī federal law enforcement official told USA TODAY that investigators believe Mateen was in the Orlando area for several days prior to the shooting, suggesting the gunman carefully considered the target. "We didn't really talk to him a lot," he added. "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," Ty Smith, told the Sentinel. One recalled seeing the gunman drink at the bar and another said he had used a gay dating and chat app.Ī witness told the Orlando Sentinel that Mateen was in the club at least a dozen times before carrying out his attack.
ORLANDO - The gunman whose shooting spree at a packed nightclub left 49 people dead sounded "cool and calm" in negotiations with police before officers stormed the club in a brutal firefight that ended the siege, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday.Īlso on Monday, several regulars at the Pulse club said Omar Mateen, 29, had patronized the club before the attack. "Still, I can't believe it.View Gallery: Mass shooting at Orlando nightclub "The only thing that popped in my mind was it was an accident," he said. When they informed him of his brother-in-law's actions, he said, he assumed there had been a misunderstanding. On Sunday investigators swarmed Abasin's home, which was in Mateen's name, although he never lived there. "You know, right now I feel that I'm grieving. Lucie, about 125 miles south of Orlando, still struggling to make sense of what had happened. Mustafa Abasin, Omar Mateen's brother-in-law, stood in the doorway of his pastel pink, three-bedroom home in Port St. I would have called the local law enforcement." "If I did know of 1 percent that he's committing such a crime, my son, I would arrest him myself. He said he'd had no inkling that his son might perform any kind of act of terrorism. I apologise for what my son did, and I am as sad and as mad as you guys are. The only thing I'll say is those people who lost their loved ones, they are my family. If I could catch him, I would could ask him myself. I wish I didn't know that (is) what he was doing. "The United States is the house that has always taken care of me, my family, all the people from my homeland. Seddique Mateen, a US citizen from Afghanistan, insisted on his love for and loyalty to his new homeland. What he did was completely an act of terrorism." "I don't want any father to go through what we are going through," Mateen said, clasping his hands and occasionally bowing his head as he sat on an ornate floral sofa surrounded by cameras and microphones. The father of Omar Mateen says in a Facebook video that he was a "good son" and does not know what motivated him to carry out the shooting.