The tragedy that ensued early in the morning on June 12 had at first been seen as the act of a terrorist. Omar Mateen simply evoking the name ‘ISIS’ seemed to solidify that in our minds. At least for a moment… Soon after the dust settled people with information about the shooter began to come forward. All this new information made people wonder: Perhaps Mateen hadn’t committed such a terrible crime because of radical religious beliefs, but because he hated himself and took it out on the club-goers at Pulse.

There is so much to consider when you really dive into this puzzle of a man.

So, let’s look at some of the facts:

- According to Mateen’s wife, he vocalized his wish to plan an attack.

- He visited Disney World and his wife accompanied him to Disney Springs and Pulse to scout the locations for the attack.

- Mateen’s ex-wife described him as abusive and mentally ill.

- His father ran for President of Afghanistan in 2015 and said that he supported the Taliban. He also posted a video on Facebook Monday morning (which has since been removed) stating that only Allah should “punish” homosexuals, not servants of Allah… Damn. Certainly seems like he was raised in a home that believes homosexuality is a sin.

- Mateen’s father later said that he “wouldn’t miss anything about him.” Sounds like a real loving father.

- A former coworker described Mateen as bigoted, often making homophobic, sexist, and racist remarks.

- In Mateen’s 911 calls to the police, at the time that he had been holding people hostage inside the Pulse nightclub, he pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State and aligned himself with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon Bombers.

- A few club-goers told police that Mateen had been seen at the Pulse nightclub before the night of the shooting.

- In 2013 he had been investigated by the FBI for remarks he made about having possible terrorist ties. His remarks were found to be exaggerated and the investigation was dropped.

- In 2014 he was investigated by the FBI yet again. This time, for possible ties to the American born suicide bomber Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha. Any contact the two had was found to be minimal, and again, the investigation was dropped.

- Mateen’s father told NBC News that Mateen “got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago” and that he “thought that might be related to the shooting.”

All of these things suggest that American born Omar Mateen had been radicalized either by someone associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) or had made the decision on his own to engage in a lone wolf style attack on Pulse and murder 49 innocent people and wound 53 others.

But, there’s more facts to this story that must be considered:

- Mateen’s ex-wife now believes that it is possible that he was gay and that he felt ashamed of his feelings towards men.

- Mateen’s father originally said that he believed that his son’s actions had nothing to do with religion and were based on a hatred of gays after seeing two men kissing in Miami in front of his son. Since Omar Mateen’s sexuality has been called into question his father has since started calling what his son did an act of terrorism. It seems Mateen’s father would rather his son be a terrorist than a confused gay man.

- In the second call to police he also aligned himself with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a Vero Beach man who traveled to Syria in 2014 and became a suicide bomber. But Abu-Salha had joined the al Nursa Front, which is an enemy of the Islamic State. Mateen aligning himself with both Abu-Salha and the Islamic State seems rather contradictory.

(Yes, that's him smiling for the camera and holding a cat.)

- Mateen frequented gay chat rooms and struck up conversations with many men, none of which have been found so far to be homophobic in nature. Reportedly creepy, but not cruel.

- He was friendly with many members of the LGBTQ community over the years and had never shown animosity towards them.

- He had been a regular customer at Pulse. For three years he visited Pulse nightclub and he was often seen hitting on men. He had been escorted out of the club drunk a few times as well. Yet, even intoxicated, when his inhibitions and judgement were most likely lacking, no one has claimed that he was making derogatory comments or acting homophobic in any way. It is doubtful that he was "scoping out" the nightclub for three years.

- A former classmate of Mateen’s 2006 police academy class said that Mateen would often frequent gay bars with himself and other classmates. The classmate, who did not want to reveal his identity, also said that Mateen had hit on him. The unnamed classmate declined Mateen’s advances, as he was not yet being open about his own sexuality. He said that Mateen asked if he was gay, to which the classmate said no; Mateen replied with, “Well, if you were gay, you would be my type.”

- Jim Van Horn, 71, a regular at Pulse, told The Associated Press that he saw Mateen at the bar on many occasions and spoke to him once. "He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men," Van Horn said about Omar Mateen.

The puzzle pieces just don't fit when you're trying to attribute Mateen's actions to purely Islamic extremist ideals. It seems that, while this was the most lethal mass shooting in the United States' recent history, it was also the worst hate crime ever committed against the LGBTQ community in our country... and it was by a gay man who couldn't deal with his own sexuality.

It says something about how isolated Mateen must have been as no close friends have stepped forward to speak against him or on his behalf, just former classmates, co-workers, and acquaintances. A former classmate articulated that Mateen was pitied, that he was awkward and, in the classmate’s words, “he just wanted to fit in and no one liked him.” Both wives seemed to have been held at a distance and he had been raised by a man who is pro-Taliban and vehemently anti-gay. Perhaps in Omar Mateen’s mind this attack was retribution against the people of Pulse, people he saw as comfortable in their own skin and able to live their lives the way they truly were, while he felt forced to live a double life. Perhaps his claims of affiliation with the Islamic State were an attempt to gain approval from his father or simply something to leave people with the question of maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t instead of attributing his act as one of self-hatred.

One thing is for certain, the Islamic State, who so desperately wanted to claim Mateen as a Caliphate soldier, is probably regretting their announcement stating that he was a lone wolf martyr for their cause quickly after the mass shooting.

In my opinion, Omar Mateen was a terrorist, just not on behalf of the Islamic State. Mateen was a home-grown domestic terrorist that could not cope with being gay. It wasn’t because he had a mental illness, it wasn’t because he was loyal to the I.S., it wasn’t because he was Muslim, and it wasn’t a gun control issue. It was because Omar Mateen was a weak-minded, selfish individual who was angry at the fact that others in the LGBT community were living their lives unhindered by that shame that was ingrained in him and that he didn’t ever fit into any group completely.

He had an education, no criminal background, married a woman and had a child, he had a decent job…. He was living the life that was expected of him, and he was miserable doing it. Any interactions with people in his "expected of him" life describe him as a deeply angry person. Many of his interactions with the LGBT community, however, were reportedly less hostile. He seemed normal, a bit awkward and out of place but not violent or angry to the extent that he was during the times he was living the life expected of him.

That’s why he did what he did. He was too weak to live the life he really wanted, so he hurt as many people who were brave enough to be who they truly were as he could. He didn’t just kill and injure 102 people and their families, he destroyed the illusion of safety found in clubs like Pulse from the LGBT community.

The fact is that Omar Mateen was weak, but his actions will not weaken a community of pride. The rainbow flag still flies, supported by millions of LGBTQ communities and advocates around the world, and will continue to, no matter who tries to tear it down.