The man who killed 50 people at an Orlando gay club over the weekend once “saw two men kissing” and that pissed him off, so said his father. So we were led to believe that Omar Mateen hated the LGBT community so much that he loaded up his NRA approved semi-automatic, loaded up a hand-gun and went to the club. He then proceeded to commit the biggest mass murder in America’s history.
But maybe we were led astray. Maybe what led Mateen to commit such a heinous crime was not the homophobic attitude his father described, but rather his apparent closeted sexuality and being rejected by some in the LGBT community.
A man who was in the same 2006 police academy class told the Palm Beach Post that Mateen once asked him out romantically, and said they had spent time together at gay nightclubs after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy.
Officials say Mateen shot and killed 49 people and injured 53 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub early Sunday morning.
“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” said the former classmate said, who asked that his name not be used.
The man told the Palm Beach Post that he believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it.
“He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,” he said. “He was always socially awkward.”
Earlier Monday, it was revealed that Mateen was a frequent visitor to the establishment, according to one regular visitor.
“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 said of the gunman Omar Mateen, 29, according to The Orlando Sentinel.
