Yesterday, it was reported that Omar Mateen, a former security guard at G4S and practicing Muslim, was responsible for the attack on Pulse nightclub in #Orlando which left over 50 people dead and an additional 53 people injured. Police say that during the attack, he actually called them and pledged allegiance to ISIS before continuing to carry out his plans.
Back in 2013, the FBI questioned possible ties between Mateen and Moner Mohammad Abusalha who was Syria’s first American suicide bomber. According to the NY Times, he was fighting as a part of the Nusra Front which was a Quaeda-aligned militant group, but FBI ended up closing the case due to there not being anything substantial to accuse Mateen of any terroristic activity.
He was able to continue with his job at G4S where a coworker, Daniel Gilroy, claimed that Mateen was very comfortable using racial, ethnic and sexual slurs. “He talked about killing people all the time,” Gilroy claimed and recalled a time when Mateen said he wished he could kill all black people. “You meet bigots,” Gilroy said, “But he was above and beyond. He was always angry, sweating, just angry at the world.”
When he reported these things to the G4S company, they brushed it off so that they would not come off as racist or islamophobic. Gilroy left after a year with the company after Mateen’s incessant text message harassment and the company still did not do anything. Today, Gilroy feels that if he had further pressed the issue, then 50 people would be alive today.
After news broke of the shooting taking place inside of a gay club, Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told NBC News that his son may have been provoked to harm these people after recently witnessing two men kissing in Miami. He was angered that his 3-year-old son had been exposed to something he did not agree with. “They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son, they are doing that,’” Seddique Mir Mateen said.
In an interview with the NY Times, the gunman’s ex wife, Sitora Yusufiy backs up her former father in law’s allegations that he was intolerant toward homosexuals and recalled that during their marriage “there were definitely moments when he’d express his intolerance towards homosexuals.”Yusufiy also claims that her ex husband was abusive toward her. He would not permit her to go anywhere except for work and home and even took over her paychecks. Even though police are alleging that Mateen called and pledged allegiance to ISIS, Yusufiy says that her ex husband never expressed sympathies for terrorist organizations nor radical Islamists.
Now, many people are angry that Mateen was able to purchase a gun even though he was on the FBI watch list. The truth is that the president cannot ban people from purchasing guns due to the National Rifle Association as they protect our second amendment right to bear arms. If enough people desire for the law to be done away with, does that really make us more safe? People who illegally obtain guns, drugs, cars, etc. obtain them because they want to, so laws won’t really change that. If you want your right to own a gun to be taken away, does that make you feel safe?
TSR STAFF: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
Sources: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/omar-mateen-early-signs-of-promise-then-abuse-and-suspected-terrorist-ties.html, http://www.nytimes.com/live/orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-updates/suspect-spoke-of-killing/, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-former-coworker-i-complained-multiple-1465777922-htmlstory.html
