Orlando Gunman Was Gay, Says Former Police-Academy Classmate
By Claire Landsbaum
When Omar Mateen — a 29-year-old security guard — opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, killing 49 people and wounding 53, it wasn't his first time at the club. In fact, according to at least four regular patrons, Mateen had visited the club several times before, and one — Chris Callen, a drag queen who performs at Pulse under the name Kristina McLaughlin — said Mateen had been going there "for at least three years."
Additional reports suggest Mateen had created profiles on multiple gay-dating apps: Grindr, Jack'd, and Adam for Adam, to name a few. And a former police-academy classmate of Mateen's said he believed Mateen was gay and had asked him out on a date. "We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer," the classmate told the Palm Beach Post. He went on, "He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him. He was always socially awkward."
Cord Cedeno, another Pulse patron, said he recognized Mateen from Grindr but "instantly blocked him because he was very creepy in his messages."
Ty Smith, another regular, told the Orlando Sentinel that Mateen would "go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself," and at times would "get so drunk he was loud and belligerent." "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith said. "He told us he had a wife and child."
Yet another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on the gay-dating app Jack'd for at least a year before the shooting, but they'd never met in person. Then, on Sunday, West was dropping a friend off at Pulse when he noticed Mateen crossing the street at about 1 a.m. — just an hour before the shooting. "He walked directly past me," West said. "I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey.' I could tell by the eyes."
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full article
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/orlando-shooter-was-gay-says-former-classmate.html
