The shooting at Orlando night club “Pulse” is now the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people before being killed by police officials. The obvious question after something horrific as this is “why?” To understand the motive of the shooter, we must look at his life and what he was hiding.
Mateen was born in New York to Afghan immigrants and was described by a family friend as loving and very respectful of America. He attended Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he graduated with an Associate of Science degree in Criminal Justice Technology in 2006. He then got a job as a private security guard and was known to have a fascination with law enforcement. Mateen had been married twice and is the father of the a 3-year-old boy. Reflecting on the fact that Omar Mateen had a seemingly normal life and no criminal record whatsoever has sparked the idea that Mateen may have been hiding something else.
After reading the above facts, it is easy to assume Omar Mateen was living an honest life; however, this is far from the truth. Mateen struggled with the fact that he was gay. A former classmate spoke out and said that Mateen had asked him on a date while they both attended the police academy, but declined because he was not yet out as a gay man. He also goes on to share that he, Mateen and other classmates would sometimes go to the gay nightclubs. The former classmate has declined to offer his name but describes Omar Mateeen as socially awkward and he believed that Mateen was gay but not open about it.
Not only was Omar Mateen thought of as gay by his classmates, but also by his first wife. Sitora Yusify was interviewed by SBT Brazil, saying that she believed Omar had “homosexual tendencies.” She also claimed that his father called Mateen gay in front of her. She felt strongly that Omar was trying to hide a past of dating and/or sleeping with other men.
Another shocking piece of information about Mateen is that he attended "Pulse" nightclub frequently. The Los Angeles Times reported that Mateen went to “Pulse” nightclub nearly a dozen times before the rampage. He was said to be a “regular” at the club who often got extremely drunk and hit on men. This is hard to believe considering he shot and killed almost 50 people at the very nightclub he had spent many nights at.
Because Omar Mateen is rumored to be gay, it is easy to now see this shooting as a hate crime. Mateen was someone who was not comfortable with his own sexuality and for that he turned against the community he belonged to. The violence that was carried out not only against the LGBT community but also our country last Saturday in Orlando is something we cannot take lightly.
