Gunman Had Visited Nightclub Before, Used Gay Dating Apps

Decades before he slaughtered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Omar Mateen threatened to go on a mass-shooting spree – at his elementary school.

The teacher said her heart sank seeing pictures of Mateen: “I remember those eyes”.

One man told the LA Times he was chatting with Mateen on a gay, dating app for nearly a year. The source said they believe Mateen browsed militant Islamic material on the internet for two years or more before the Orlando shootings.

C t host Chris Hayes that he had seen Mateen on “one of the [gay dating] apps” and said “I recognize him off Grindr”.

Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press that he saw Mateen repeatedly at the bar and talked to him once.

So far, there’s been no official confirmation that Mateen had profiles on gay dating apps, and no proof that Mateen ever had sex with other men – but, even if Mateen was gay, numerous facts of the attack remain exactly the same.

One of Mateen’s former colleagues, Dan Gilroy, said he was also troubled by the gunman.

Soon after the attack, Mateen’s father indicated that his son had harbored strong anti-gay feelings.

The FBI investigated him again in 2014 to discern if he was connected to Moner Abu-Salha, the American-born suicide bomber that Mateen mentioned in his 911 call before Sunday’s shooting. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up “no ties of any effect”, Comey said.

“In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family, loved to joke, loved to have fun, but then a few months after we were married I saw his instability”, she said.

“I feel like it’s a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn’t want everybody to know about”, she said. Mateen, 29, was a US citizen, born in NY of Afghan immigrant parents. If he had seen anything differently, he said, “I would have called law enforcement immediately”.

Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, commented about his son and homosexuality.

On Monday night, about a mile from Pulse in downtown Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors.

“It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn’t openly gay felt safe for the first time”, said Cathleen Daus, now 36, who worked at Pulse in her 20s. “Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else”.

Federal investigators found no evidence connecting him to militant groups, FBI Director James Comey told reporters on Monday, noting contradictions in some of Mateen’s claims of allegiance. The two knew each other, but Comey declared their ties were not of “any outcome”.