Orlando Gunman Seen At Gay Club Several Times

Orlando's The Pulse nightclub

The gunman who killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando is reported to have been seen there several times before the massacre.

CBS News has spoken to a US official with knowledge of the investigation who says club-goers had told investigators they had seen Omar Mateen at Pulse previously.

Local newspaper The Orlando Sentinel reported that Mateen was seen drinking alone at the club by at least four people before the night when he opened fire.

One club regular Ty Smith told the paper he had seen Mateen at least a dozen times.

He said: "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.

"We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Mr Smith added.

"He told us he had a wife and child."

Another Pulse-goer Kevin West told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen had messaged him several times using a gay chat app.

The communication was on and off over the space of a year, he added.

WFTV9, meanwhile, interviewed a gay former classmate of Mateen's who claimed the killer had asked him out after going to several gay bars with him.


When his ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy was asked by CNN on Monday if he was gay, she sat in silence for a few seconds before answering: "I don't know."

Orlando Police have so far refused to comment.

Some have suggested his familiarity with the club may explain why he chose Pulse, rather than other clubs closer to his home in Port St Lucie, about 130 miles (200km) south of Orlando.

The US-born security guard, a 29-year-old son of Afghan immigrants, shot dead 49 people on Sunday night and injured another 53 before being himself shot dead by police at the end of a hostage siege.

Officers had to use an armoured vehicle to smash a 2-3ft hole through a wall to rescue dozens of people who had been hiding in a toilet.

The FBI have said Mateen was investigated in 2013 over "inflammatory comments" suggesting "terrorist ties" and US media reported he made a phone call before the Orlando attack declaring allegiance to Islamic State.

A picture of Omar Mateen he posted of himself on social media

There have been reports that Mateen showed anger at seeing two men kissing, but his father has told Sky News a normal reaction would have been to say "it's a free country".

Seddique Mateen told the New York Daily News his son is not gay.

Friends and co-workers have described Omar Mateen as homophobic and "mentally unstable," while his ex-wife said he was violent and had bipolar disorder.

The FBI is trying to establish whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as some reports suggested.

US authorities have confirmed he was able to buy at least two guns in the days before Sunday's attack, despite confirmation from the FBI that he had been interviewed twice over possible terror links.