Omar Mateen, Terrorist Who Attacked Orlando Gay Club, Had Been Investigated by FBI

[boston bean]

Mateen was a ‘known quantity’ to federal law enforcement before he killed 53 people in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Omar Mateen of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, came to the attention of federal authorities twice prior to being identified as the gunman in the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.

Mateen 53 people and shot more than 100 in total at the Pulse gay nightclub early Sunday morning, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.


The senior law enforcement source reports that Mateen became a person of interest in 2013 and again in 2014. The Federal Bureau of Investigation at one point opened an investigation into Mateen but subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/12/omar-mateen-id-d-as-orlando-killer.html

[Barack_America]

1. I will be very interested to know how he got the assault weapon.

Surely he was not permitted to have one? Surely our gun laws are not that lax.

[Station to Station]

2. Err, Obama has addressed this

he is literally powerless to stop people on watch-lists from purchasing guns.

[Agnosticsherbet]

7. From what I have read, he was a security guard and licensed to conceal carry.

The non-automatic version of the AR-15 is legal and conversion kits are reported to be available.

[Mojorabbit]

17. He had a state firearm license and a security guard license so he passed

all the background tests. This makes one wonder what exactly the FBI had investigated him for.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

21. Aaron Alexis, the Virginia naval yard shooter had a secret security clearance even though

he had been psychiatrically diagnosed as dangerous.

Background checks are mostly worthless if the authorities don't/won't do their jobs.

[KeepItReal]

3. Then what President Obama said holds

[Kang Colby]

4. Why didn't they charge him and prosecute? That's the question we should be asking. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

10. It's one thing for law enforcement to have a very bad feeling about someone,

but quite another to find probable cause for an arrest, let alone proof beyond reasonable doubt for a conviction.

[Kang Colby]

14. Well, in this country a "very bad feeling"

does not equate to due process. Charge and prosecute people like this in conspiracy charges, let them have their day in court.

[Marengo]

5. Twice? I wonder, should that alone have made him ineligible to pass a background check...

To purchase a firearm?

[6chars]

6. he was a security guard

[WhiteTara]

11. No background checks for security guards?

[6chars]

13. with some work for federal govt

go figure.

[Abq_Sarah]

20. You can be a person of interest

And still pass a background check. Due process precludes stripping rights from people who haven't actually violated the law.

[KeepItReal]

8. Watch this video for an explanation

[DCBob]

9. Exactly what I was thinking.

If that is not part of background check it needs to be added. There are way too many slipping through the cracks and being allowed to purchase guns.

[Kang Colby]

16. You are essentially advocating that we do away with due process protection.

No, thanks. This guy should have been charged and imprisoned on conspiracy charges but we can't allow LE to make extrajudicial lists outside of due process protection.

[DCBob]

18. Why? We already make lists based on other matters.

[Kang Colby]

19. We don't make lists to deny rights without due process.

And no, I do not support Bush era "no fly lists".

[DCBob]

22. You may not like them but we do make lists.

In matters like this they seem necessary.

[Kang Colby]

23. You agree with the Bush/Cheney era approach to civil liberties.

I don't.

We simply disagree, and that is OK.

[DCBob]

24. President Obama retained the noflylist program.

I trust his judgment on this matter.

[uponit7771]

12. So... how was he able to get his hands on a weapon DESIGNED to kill a lot of humans?!

[NightWatcher]

15. He passed a "background check" and had a security guard license

https://licensing.freshfromflorida.com/access/individual.aspx

If he was being investigated by the FBI either they found something or they didn't. The truth is that until they commit a crime, there might not be grounds to detain.