“We were in downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music. And he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid, and he got very angry,” says father to Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old identified as the shooter who massacred at least 50 people at the popular gay Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday.
“They were kissing each other and touching each other, and he said: ‘Look at that. In front of my son, they are doing that.’ And then we were in the men’s bathroom, and men were kissing each other.”
Despite the statement, investigators are still trying to determine whether it was terrorism, a hate crime or a combined force of both triggers that pushed the man who lived in a modest two-bedroom condominium in Fort Pierce, Florida, over the edge.
Law enforcement sources also told NBC News that Mateen swore allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a 911 call just moments before his killing spree at Pulse.
Prior to the shooting that rocked America on Sunday, Mateen, who was killed by a SWAT team, appeared to live a relatively quiet life, according to The Washington Post.
He worked as a security guard and showed a strong interest in law enforcement, even once sharing with friends about becoming a police officer.
The New York native appears in a series of Myspace photos wearing New York Police Department shirts. He held a permit to carry a concealed weapon, according to Florida records.
President Barack Obama has designated June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team sent chaplains to Orlando “to assess where and how to best offer emotional and spiritual care,” according to its Facebook page.
“My prayers are with the many victims and family members who lost loved ones in the senseless shooting – now being called an act of terrorism – at a gay nightclub in Orlando early this morning,” Franklin Graham, BGEA president, wrote in a statement. “Life is precious, and we only have one chance to live our lives here on this earth.”
aaron@ugchristiannews.com
