The ex-wife of Omar Mateen, who killed 49 and maimed 53 at an Orlando gay nightclub on Sunday, said the shooter may have been gay.
Speaking on her behalf in Portuguese to a Brazilian television station, the ex-wife’s fiancé, Marco Dias, said Mr. Mateen had “gay tendencies,” noting that the shooter’s father once called him gay in front of his wife.
He also said the “FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media,” the New York Post reported.
The claim comes after one of Mr. Mateen’s former male classmates said the killer asked him out on a date “romantically,” the Palm Beach Post reported. He said they occasionally attended gay bars after class at the Indian River Community College police academy in 2006.
“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” the former classmate said.
Several patrons at the Pulse nightclub, the location of the shooting spree, reported seeing Mr. Mateen at the club at least a dozen times.
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Kevin West, a regular patron at the Pulse, told the Los Angeles Times he used to frequently message Mr. Mateen on Jack’d, a gay dating app.
Chris Callen, a drag queen who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press that the shooter was a regular at the club.
“It’s the same guy,” Mr. Callen said, the Canadian Press reported. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”
Ty Smith, Mr. Callen’s husband, dismissed the notion that Mr. Mateen snapped after seeing two men kissing, a widely reported anecdote in the media.
“That’s bullcrap, right there,” he said, the Canadian Press reported. “No offense. That’s straight-up crap. He’s been around us. Some of those people did a lot more than [kiss] outside the bar. … He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?”
Mr. Mateen reportedly pledged his support to the Islamic State terror group before being killed in a shootout with authorities.
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• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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