Shooter was body builder, guard; once wanted to be cop

FBI chief James Comey said Monday his bureau was “highly confident” Mateen had been “radicalized” while consuming online propaganda and that he had claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack.

In the wake of the horrific shooting in Orlando over the weekend, attention has turned to Omar Mateen’s family, specifically his father.

As federal investigators began to piece together the 29-year-old’s descent into terrorism – and uncover a motive for his killing spree in Orlando – friends, co-workers, schoolmates and neighbors who knew him and his family gave differing and sometimes conflicting accounts of his behavior. Hopper said the interviews were inconclusive. In 2014, U.S.-born suicide bomber Moner Mohammad Abusalha blew up a restaurant in Syria, and USA law enforcement at the time suggested he had a connection with the Islamic Center.

Ms Yusify left Mateen in 2009 and had no contact with him since, save for one time when he tried to message her on Facebook. FBI INTERVIEWS The FBI twice interviewed Mateen for having suspected ties to Islamist militants, a process likely to renew questions over whether the US government has a clear strategy or adequate resources to turn Americans away from radicalism.

Omar Mateen has been identified by police as the suspect in the mass shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando, Florida.

Mateen apologized for what his son did and said “I am as sad and mad as you guys are”. He said that doing nothing is a decision as well.

“I cried for all the people who died”, Rahman said. A federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation also confirmed the name.

“We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music,”Seddique said”.

On Monday morning, officials emphasized that there was no immediate threat to the public and said they didn’t know whether anyone would be charged as part of the investigation.

Saudi Interior Ministry security spokesman Major General Mansour Turki said Mateen performed the umrah pilgrimage for 10 days in March 2011 and eight days the following March. “Many lives were lost, and many more individuals were impacted by witnessing the crime”.

He estimated more than 100 people were still inside when he heard shots, got on the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth.

He said Mateen often would cover his head and bring a prayer mat to work – but his apparent piety belied what Gilroy called a “vulgar mouth” and a deep well of anger.

Johnson said people dropped to the ground and started running out of the nightclub. “They love their loved ones”. She said he was physically abusive and a steroid abuser.

Gilroy, a former Fort Pierce police officer, said he worked with him for about one year, finally quitting in March 2015 because the environment had become toxic.

The emergency response prompted multiple road closures around the nightclub.

Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, said he was in shock and wasn’t aware of anything his son had been planning. The imam said he last saw Mateen on Friday.

He said the elder Mateen once replaced tiles that had come loose from his roof after a storm. Viewers from Pashtun communities in the United States regularly call in to the channel to espouse support for Pashtun domination of Afghanistan over the nation’s minorities, including Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks, the official said. Our state emergency operations center is also monitoring this tragic incident…. “I was praying to God that I would live to see another day”.

The Vatican said Pope Francis is expressing the “deepest feelings of horror and condemnation” over the massacre.

“If there was good security this would have not happened”, he said.

Orlando city officials offered condolences to the families of the victims. “They are against our countrymen, and against our homeland”, he says, while dressed in army fatigues.

Sunday evening’s Tony Awards have been dedicated to those affected by the shooting.