BEIRUT // He claimed he was doing it for ISIL and ISIL even claimed him as one of their own. But it seems that the man who killed 49 people in a Florida nightclub, was not really sure what he believed in.
Omar Mateen, who also died in the massacre, cherry-picked his so-called allegiances. He spoke of his support not only for ISIL but also for ISIL’s adversaries.
He expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from Jabhat Al Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda and deadly rivals to ISIL. He also claimed connections to the Lebanese group Hizbollah, who are Shiite while ISIL is Sunni. The disparate groups have differing ideologies but Mateen had expressed support for each of them at one time or another. The only thing the FBI says it can be “highly confident” about is that Mateen had radicalised himself by reading extremist propaganda online.
Mateen’s father has insisted his son was driven not by religion but by homophobia and had been particularly angered by the sight of two men kissing. Pulse, the club he attacked with an assault rifle and handgun, was a popular gay venue. US investigators are also looking into the role of anti-gay bigotry in the man they believe was a “lone wolf” inspired but not instructed by extremist groups. However the investigation into the gunman’s background and motivation took an unexpected twist on Tuesday when it emerged that Mateen — a practising Muslim with a wife and young son — was himself a regular at Pulse.
Club goer Ty Smith said he had seen Mateen there at least a dozen times. “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,” said Mr Smith. “We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child.”
Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, said Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app — one of several he was in the habit of using.
Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, is allegedly not co-operating with the investigation so far, but police have spoken at length with Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who has said Mateen beat her in the four months they were married.
Other relatives and acquaintances have portrayed Mateen as homophobic rather than a religious radical but there is common agreement that he was volatile and mentally unstable.
Police have now identified all 49 victims. Many of the wounded remained hospitalised.
* Agence France-Presse