Orlando shooter ‘made up’ terror links

Mateen had complained of taunts at his job in the St Lucie courthouse leading him to say he had ties to terrorists

Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando night club in June, made up links to terror groups to counter co-workers who “ganged up” to tease him about being a Muslim.

In documents released Monday, Mateen complained of taunts at his security guard job in the St Lucie courthouse leading him to say he had ties to terrorists. But he later told his bosses he made that up, the Associated Press reported.



The remarks, however, prompted a probe by the FBI in 2013, one of the two FBI probes Mateen was subjected to prior to the June mass shooting. While St Lucie County Sheriff’s office asked him to be reassigned away from the courthouse, documents show the FBI didn’t believe he was a terrorist.

Moreover, soon after the shooting, a man came forward claiming to be the mass murderer’s ex-lover. He further claimed that Mateen acted out of revenge after finding out one of his partners was HIV positive.

In an interview with a Spanish-language television network, Univision, the man, who was identified only by the name Miguel, claimed he and Mateen were “friends with benefits”. He added their relationship started after they met on a gay dating website and lasted two months until December, during which time they met between 15 and 20 times at a hotel in Orlando.

Miguel believes Mateen killed out of revenge. “I’ve cried like you have no idea. But the thing that makes me want to tell the truth is that he didn’t do it for terrorism. In my opinion he did it for revenge.”



He claimed Mateen had sex with two Puerto Rican men, one of whom he later discovered was HIV positive, and that he became “terrified”. “He hated gay Puerto Ricans for all the stuff they did to him. I believe this crazy horrible thing he did was for revenge. When I asked him what he was going to do now his answer was: ‘I’m going to make them pay for what they did to me’.”

The man wore a disguise and his voice was altered for the high profile interview with Univision, which is the largest Spanish-language television network in the world. Univision said it had confirmed with the FBI that they were speaking to “Miguel”.

“He (Mateen) adored Latinos, gay Latinos, with brown skin, but he felt rejected. He felt used by them. There were moments in the Pulse nightclub that made him feel really bad. Guys used him. That really affected him,” Miguel said.



Describing the Orlando shooter, he said Mateen was “sweet and affectionate” and had told him he was forced into an arranged marriage.

“He said the Muslim religion is a beautiful, beautiful religion, where everything is about love. Everybody is welcome. Gay, trans, bisexual… everybody. He was looking for love. He was looking to be embraced.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2016.