The picture of Omar Mateen’s life uncovered so far seemed incomplete. The New York-born security guard married to a woman and divorced from another. Words about his secret sexuality have been coming out of the closet after the worst single day massacre in US history.
A gay couple told The Canadian Press that Mateen, 29, visited the Pulse Orlando nightclub on many occasions for about to three years. Another man in Mateen’s 2006 police academy class told the Palm Beach Post that the killer had asked him out on a gay date. Other men, according to MSNBC and the Los Angeles Times, reported that Mateen had used gay dating apps to solicit for relationships with men.
US Investigators are looking into possible motives for the attack and have said Mateen appears to be a “homegrown extremist” who touted support not just for the Islamic State, but other radical groups that are its enemies.
But according to the father of the gunman, hesays his son was not gay.
According to Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, he said he never saw his son exhibit homophobic behaviour except for one time in Miami when he saw two men kissing. The father answered questions from reporters on Tuesday at his home in Port Saint Lucie.
He added that his son’s second wife, Noor Zahi Salman, returned to their apartment late Monday because she “needed clothes to wear.” He said she is in shock, adding that she and his grandson are in Florida, but he didn’t say where.
In another development, Jamaica’s attorney general says a US Embassy’s decision to fly the rainbow flag at the U.S. Embassy (Jamaica) following the Orlando gay nightclub massacre is an affront to the island’s anti-sodomy laws.
On her social media accounts, Marlene Malahoo Forte condemned the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history but says she found the Kingston embassy’s decision to fly the rainbow flag “disrespectful of Jamaican laws.”
The attorney general described this as her personal view.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said it is flying the rainbow flag “in solidarity with the victims who were targeted for being members of the LGBT community.” U.S. embassies across the globe have also been flying the pride flag following the Sunday violence.
Jamaica is known for their has longstanding laws criminalizing gay sex between men.
