Omar Mir Seddique Mateen (November 16, 1986 – June 12, 2016) was an
American mass murderer and domestic terrorist. He killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida, before being killed in a shootout with the police.
Prior to the shooting, he had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014. Mateen reportedly pledged his allegiance to the Sunni militant jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) before the shooting.
Mateen's rampage was the third-deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in history, the first being the 2011 Norway attacks committed by Anders Behring Breivik, followed by the 1982 massacre by Woo Bum-kon in South Korea.
People who knew Mateen have speculated that he might have been gay or bisexual. A male friend of his from 2006, when the two were in police academy together, said that Mateen went to gay clubs with him and that Mateen once expressed an interest in dating him. Club-goers also recalled Mateen dancing with another man. One classmate, who asked not to be identified by name, said Mateen asked him if he was gay.
The Orlando Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post reported that at least five regular customers at the Pulse nightclub had seen Mateen visit the venue on at least a dozen occasions. Sometimes Mateen drank in a corner by himself "and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent." A witness, who recognized Mateen outside the club an hour before the shootings, told investigators that Mateen had been messaging him for about a year using a gay dating app called Jack'd. He gave his phone to the FBI for analysis, along with his login details for the application. A third witness said that Mateen had tried to pick up men at the nightclub. Yet dozens of witnesses told the Tampa Bay Times that they had never seen Mateen at the nightclub. A spokesperson for Barbara Poma, the owner of the Pulse nightclub, called the statement that Mateen had been a regular patron "untrue and totally ridiculous".
Mateen's father Sidiqque denied that his son was closeted, saying, "If he was gay, why would he do something like this?" Two days later, after multiple reports questioned whether Mateen was homosexual, Mateen's father said, "I didn't see any of it and I don't believe that was the case."
The Wall Street Journal reported Mateen's former wife as saying that "he did feel strongly about homosexuality". Mateen's first wife, when asked if Mateen was gay, said she "didn't know" and recalled that he had confessed to going to nightclubs. Gawker reported that Mateen's ex-wife's current boyfriend, speaking Portuguese, told Brazilian media that she had told him that Mateen had "gay tendencies". Following the shooting, Mateen's father stated, in an online video in his native language, Dari: "In this month of Ramadan, the gay and lesbian issue is something that God will punish," though "the servants of God shouldn't have anything to do with it."
the two firearms later used in the shooting, from a gun shop in Port St. Lucie two weeks before the shooting. He also attempted to purchase body armor, but was unable to do so as the store where he tried to make the purchase did not sell the product he sought.
Officials briefed on the investigation also stated that Mateen went to an unspecified Walt Disney World theme park with his wife, presumably to scout it as a possible target. He visited both Disney Springs, where security is less strict than at Disney theme parks, and Pulse between June 1 and June 6 during the Gay Days 2016 celebrations at Disney World and in the Orlando area.
NBC News reported that Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, told the FBI she "drove him once to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out". An official involved with the investigation told the Associated Press that authorities believed Salman knew about the plot beforehand, but were reluctant to charge her based only on this suspicion.
A month before the attack, Mateen donated blood at OneBlood, a regional blood donation agency, which would later donate a majority of its supply to injured victims.
Hours before the attack, Mateen stopped by his parents' home to visit his father, who said he did not notice anything strange about his son during the visit.
ABC News and Fox News reported that on the early morning of June 12, the day of the attack, Mateen posted on one of his Facebook accounts: "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west ... You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state sic vengeance" as well as "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state." His final post to Facebook was "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State in the usa." These posts, since deleted, were uncovered by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on June 12, 2016, Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and began shooting. At 2:22 a.m., he made a 9-1-1 call in which he pledged allegiance to ISIL; referenced Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombers; and mentioned Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an acquaintance of his who died in a suicide bombing in Syria for the Al-Nusra Front in 2014. According to FBI officials, Mateen made two other 9-1-1 calls during the shooting. He also called News 13 of Orlando and identified himself as the nightclub shooter; The Washington Post reported that "he had carried out the Pulse attack for the Islamic State".
Mateen took hostages after police arrived and engaged in a gunfight with him. At approximately 5:00 a.m. police shot and killed Mateen, ending the attack. In the end, Mateen had killed 49 people and injured 53 more. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in United States history, the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history, the largest targeted mass killing of LGBT people in the Western world since the Holocaust, and the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since September 11, 2001.
Mateen was born as Omar Mir Seddique[1] in New Hyde Park, New York, to Afghan parents. His father, Mir Seddique Mateen, is a Pashtun who emigrated in the 1980s and is a supporter of the Taliban. After being raised in New York for a few years, he moved with his family to Port St. Lucie in 1991.
Mateen attended Martin County High School for one year, and was sent to St. Lucie West Centennial High School after getting into a fight with a student. At the latter school, a schoolmate said Mateen was bullied. Three of his classmates told The Washington Post that Mateen cheered in support of the hijackers during the September 11 attacks.
He earned an associate of science degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006. He also graduated from Martin County Adult Vocational School in 2003. Mateen worked in a number of local stores and restaurants while attending school.
In a questionnaire for the Indian River State College's Criminal Justice Training program, Mateen admitted to committing or being involved in a crime that went undetected, but did not provide specific details.
In 2006, he filed a petition for a name change, adding Mateen as his surname to match that of his parents (Persian: متين matīn, meaning "strong"/"tough").
The same year, he registered as a member of the Democratic Party, and was still listed as a member in 2016.
In April 2009, Mateen married an Uzbekistan-born woman, Sitora Yusifiy, whom he met in 2008 through Myspace, a social networking site. They separated after four months and divorced in July 2011.
Mateen visited Saudi Arabia for an eight-day trip in 2011 and a ten-day trip in 2012; the Saudi Interior Ministry said that these trips were to perform the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. Around these times, he went to the United Arab Emirates. After checking with Saudi officials, FBI Director James Comey said they found nothing incriminating about the trips.
Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, was listed as Mateen’s spouse on a September 2013 St. Lucie County mortgage document. She had moved into Mateen's Fort Pierce home in November 2012. By September 2013, they were living in a house in Port St. Lucie with Mateen's father and another relative. Salman left Mateen and joined relatives in Rodeo, California, by December 2015. At the time of his death, Mateen had a three-year-old son with Salman.
At the time of the shooting, he lived about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Orlando, Florida, in Fort Pierce, but received mail at his parents' home in nearby Port St. Lucie. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, he had no criminal record in Florida.
Prior to the shooting, he had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014. Mateen reportedly pledged his allegiance to the Sunni militant jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) before the shooting.
Mateen's rampage was the third-deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in history, the first being the 2011 Norway attacks committed by Anders Behring Breivik, followed by the 1982 massacre by Woo Bum-kon in South Korea.
People who knew Mateen have speculated that he might have been gay or bisexual. A male friend of his from 2006, when the two were in police academy together, said that Mateen went to gay clubs with him and that Mateen once expressed an interest in dating him. Club-goers also recalled Mateen dancing with another man. One classmate, who asked not to be identified by name, said Mateen asked him if he was gay.
The Orlando Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post reported that at least five regular customers at the Pulse nightclub had seen Mateen visit the venue on at least a dozen occasions. Sometimes Mateen drank in a corner by himself "and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent." A witness, who recognized Mateen outside the club an hour before the shootings, told investigators that Mateen had been messaging him for about a year using a gay dating app called Jack'd. He gave his phone to the FBI for analysis, along with his login details for the application. A third witness said that Mateen had tried to pick up men at the nightclub. Yet dozens of witnesses told the Tampa Bay Times that they had never seen Mateen at the nightclub. A spokesperson for Barbara Poma, the owner of the Pulse nightclub, called the statement that Mateen had been a regular patron "untrue and totally ridiculous".
Mateen's father Sidiqque denied that his son was closeted, saying, "If he was gay, why would he do something like this?" Two days later, after multiple reports questioned whether Mateen was homosexual, Mateen's father said, "I didn't see any of it and I don't believe that was the case."
The Wall Street Journal reported Mateen's former wife as saying that "he did feel strongly about homosexuality". Mateen's first wife, when asked if Mateen was gay, said she "didn't know" and recalled that he had confessed to going to nightclubs. Gawker reported that Mateen's ex-wife's current boyfriend, speaking Portuguese, told Brazilian media that she had told him that Mateen had "gay tendencies". Following the shooting, Mateen's father stated, in an online video in his native language, Dari: "In this month of Ramadan, the gay and lesbian issue is something that God will punish," though "the servants of God shouldn't have anything to do with it."
the two firearms later used in the shooting, from a gun shop in Port St. Lucie two weeks before the shooting. He also attempted to purchase body armor, but was unable to do so as the store where he tried to make the purchase did not sell the product he sought.
Officials briefed on the investigation also stated that Mateen went to an unspecified Walt Disney World theme park with his wife, presumably to scout it as a possible target. He visited both Disney Springs, where security is less strict than at Disney theme parks, and Pulse between June 1 and June 6 during the Gay Days 2016 celebrations at Disney World and in the Orlando area.
NBC News reported that Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, told the FBI she "drove him once to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out". An official involved with the investigation told the Associated Press that authorities believed Salman knew about the plot beforehand, but were reluctant to charge her based only on this suspicion.
A month before the attack, Mateen donated blood at OneBlood, a regional blood donation agency, which would later donate a majority of its supply to injured victims.
Hours before the attack, Mateen stopped by his parents' home to visit his father, who said he did not notice anything strange about his son during the visit.
ABC News and Fox News reported that on the early morning of June 12, the day of the attack, Mateen posted on one of his Facebook accounts: "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west ... You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state sic vengeance" as well as "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state." His final post to Facebook was "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State in the usa." These posts, since deleted, were uncovered by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on June 12, 2016, Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and began shooting. At 2:22 a.m., he made a 9-1-1 call in which he pledged allegiance to ISIL; referenced Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombers; and mentioned Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an acquaintance of his who died in a suicide bombing in Syria for the Al-Nusra Front in 2014. According to FBI officials, Mateen made two other 9-1-1 calls during the shooting. He also called News 13 of Orlando and identified himself as the nightclub shooter; The Washington Post reported that "he had carried out the Pulse attack for the Islamic State".
Mateen took hostages after police arrived and engaged in a gunfight with him. At approximately 5:00 a.m. police shot and killed Mateen, ending the attack. In the end, Mateen had killed 49 people and injured 53 more. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in United States history, the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history, the largest targeted mass killing of LGBT people in the Western world since the Holocaust, and the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since September 11, 2001.
Mateen was born as Omar Mir Seddique[1] in New Hyde Park, New York, to Afghan parents. His father, Mir Seddique Mateen, is a Pashtun who emigrated in the 1980s and is a supporter of the Taliban. After being raised in New York for a few years, he moved with his family to Port St. Lucie in 1991.
Mateen attended Martin County High School for one year, and was sent to St. Lucie West Centennial High School after getting into a fight with a student. At the latter school, a schoolmate said Mateen was bullied. Three of his classmates told The Washington Post that Mateen cheered in support of the hijackers during the September 11 attacks.
He earned an associate of science degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006. He also graduated from Martin County Adult Vocational School in 2003. Mateen worked in a number of local stores and restaurants while attending school.
In a questionnaire for the Indian River State College's Criminal Justice Training program, Mateen admitted to committing or being involved in a crime that went undetected, but did not provide specific details.
In 2006, he filed a petition for a name change, adding Mateen as his surname to match that of his parents (Persian: متين matīn, meaning "strong"/"tough").
The same year, he registered as a member of the Democratic Party, and was still listed as a member in 2016.
In April 2009, Mateen married an Uzbekistan-born woman, Sitora Yusifiy, whom he met in 2008 through Myspace, a social networking site. They separated after four months and divorced in July 2011.
Mateen visited Saudi Arabia for an eight-day trip in 2011 and a ten-day trip in 2012; the Saudi Interior Ministry said that these trips were to perform the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. Around these times, he went to the United Arab Emirates. After checking with Saudi officials, FBI Director James Comey said they found nothing incriminating about the trips.
Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, was listed as Mateen’s spouse on a September 2013 St. Lucie County mortgage document. She had moved into Mateen's Fort Pierce home in November 2012. By September 2013, they were living in a house in Port St. Lucie with Mateen's father and another relative. Salman left Mateen and joined relatives in Rodeo, California, by December 2015. At the time of his death, Mateen had a three-year-old son with Salman.
At the time of the shooting, he lived about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Orlando, Florida, in Fort Pierce, but received mail at his parents' home in nearby Port St. Lucie. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, he had no criminal record in Florida.
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