FBI Investigating Reports Orlando Terrorist Had Frequented Pulse, Used Gay Dating Apps

Some Patrons of Pulse Say the Orlando Terrorist Used Gay Dating Apps

The FBI is now investigating if the 29-year old who shot and killed 49 people inside an Orlando gay bar had been a patron and had used gay dating apps. NBC News reports authorities have told them they are “looking into the possibility that Omar Mateen visited Pulse nightclub and tried to communicate with some of its patrons on a gay dating app.”

Late Monday afternoon reports began saying Mateen had been a patron at Pulse for years, and had asked out at least one gay man on a date, while other reports claim people who knew him in college thought he was gay.

“Cord Cedeno, a customer at the Orlando club, told MSNBC on Monday that Mateen tried to get in contact with him through Grindr, a dating application for gay and bisexual men — but that he blocked Mateen ‘because he was creepy,'” NBC News reported. Cedeno insisted he knows “for a fact” Mateen visited Pulse “several times.”

The Orlando Sentinel reports at least four people say they had seen Mateen at Pulse before Sunday’s terror attack. “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 told the newspaper.

Another Pulse patron, Jim Van Horn, told the Associated Press Mateen had tried to “pick up” men. “He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around them or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something. And then go over and buy a drink or something. That’s what people do at gay bars, you know? That’s what we do.”

Van Horn, The Guardian reports, also said, “I think it’s possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality. It’s really confusing to me. Because you can’t change who you are. But if you pretend that you’re different, then you may shoot up a gay bar.”

Mateen was married to his second wife, Noor Salman, and the couple had a child together, who is now 3. His first wife has said he abused her and “told reporters she believed he suffered from mental illness.” 

“There were definitely moments when he’d express his intolerance toward homosexuals,”Sitora Yusufiy told The New York Times.

But she also told CNN Monday, “When we had gotten married he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time, and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife.” 

“I feel like it’s a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn’t want everybody to know about.” CNN asked her if she thought he was gay. “I don’t know. He never made any indication of that.”

Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, on Sunday had claimed his son might have committed the horiffic act of terror because he had seen two men kissing. When asked if his son was gay he told The Guardian, “It’s not true. Why, if he was gay, would he do this?”