Update 11:06 a.m.: Authorities have now named 36 of the 49 victims who died in the shooting at Pulse in Orlando.
Update: 10:15 AM: In a sharp departure from his earlier statements that Omar Mateen's Sunday shooting rampage at a gay Orlando nightclub was prompted by anger over the sight of two men kissing, Mateen's father this morning said he now believes his son's attack was an act of terrorism.
Seddique Mateen made his comments to reporters in his Port St. Lucie home this morning, at times putting his hand over his heart as he spoke.
Remorseful and shaken, Mateen said, “What my son did was the act of a terrorist.
“My son was born in America. He went to school in America. I don’t understand why he did this,” he said, sitting on the living room couch surrounded by reporters during the 40-minute press conference.
>> Read more coverage of the Orlando nightclub shooting
The elder Mateen, who talked to his son the day before the shooting, said he had not noticed any change in behavior.
“If I had seen anything that showed he was thinking of doing something like this, I would have called law enforcement,” he said.
“I apologize to the families who lost loved ones. What my son did is against humanity,” he said.
Original post: More heartbreak is expected as the names of the victims in the Orlando nightclub shooting continue to be released and investigators dig deeper into the shooter's life. This morning authorities clarified that the gunman, a 29-year-old from Port St. Lucie killed 49 people and injured 53 before he was killed,
Earlier, the death toll had been reported to be 50, but authorities clarified Monday that Omar Mateen was included in that count. Of those 49 dead, 48 have been identified and the last is pending.
As the families across the state and across the nation are contacted, their loved ones' names are being posted on city's website. At 8:12 a.m., 26 names had been posted.
“Our primary mission today is to continue to identify the victims,” said Danny Banks, speaking for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The Investigation
Gov. Rick Scott said that he’s asked President Obama to declare a state of emergency across Florida, extending beyond what’s already in effect in Orlando, as law enforcement continue to track leads in the case.
The investigation does include a look at other people, said Lee Bentley with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Central Florida. He added that authorities do not believe those people pose an imminent danger and, he said, “We do not know yet if anyone else will be charged in this crime.”
FBI officials report they’ve processed “probably 100” leads in the case. Anyone with information about the shooter is asked to call 800-CALL-FBI.
Monday, a shooting reconstruction team is inside Pulse nightclub to discern more details about what happened when Mateen opened fire, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said in a press briefing.
Mina also shared more details about the events beginning when an off-duty officer working at the gay nightclub Pulse in uniform responded when shots were fired. He fired and soon additional officers responded and entered engaging in another gun battle. Mina said the shooter then retreated to a restroom where authorities believed he had four or five hostages. There were 15 to 20 others in a neighboring bathroom.
With the shooter in the bathroom, authorities were able to rescue several people in the club, Mina said. And a negotiator got on the phone with the shooter.
Mina said no one was shot while Mateen was on the phone. “We were negotiating.” But there was talk of bombs and explosives that heightened police concerns that more violence was imminent and that’s when SWAT drove a tank through a club wall.
“We rescued dozens and dozens of people out of that hole. The suspect came out of that hole, engaged officers and was ultimately killed,” Mina said.
The shooter
Omar Mateen, 29, dialed 911, pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror group and then stormed the Pulse nightclub. Mateen had a house in Port St. Lucie that investigators searched Sunday.
He also had ties to an apartment in Fort Pierce. Overnight, authorities evacuated those residences and then searched the aparment, clearing the scene before sunrise Monday. The only hint of their presence now is red investigation tape on the trunk of a Toyota Camry in the parking lot. Inside on the front seat, are papers with Mateen’s name and a search and seizure warrant from the FBI.
The car fitted with a Marine Corps license plate sits in a “guest” space.
Veronica Beers, 28, was among the neighbors who had to clear out for authorities. After spending hours in the car with her husband and dog, they decided to spend the night in a hotel. Beers said her husband believes he may have seen Mateen before, but beyond a “hi” the residents don’t talk much, she said.
Mateen did not isolate himself from gay people.
One of his former neighbors, Tricia Adorno, who is gay said their children played football together and that she considered him a friend. And just out of high school, about a decade ago, Samuel King, an openly gay drag queen, told The Daily Beast the two often crossed paths when they both worked at the mall - Mateen worked at the supplement store GNC, King worked at Ruby Tuesday where Mateen stopped in to pick up lunch.
On Facebook, King posted his disbelief: “I can’t believe i knew this dude…. He worked at GNC at the treasure coast mall when i was at Ruby Tuesday’s and he Graduated from the same high school in 2004,” he wrote. “He was a jokester and at the time didn’t have an issue with the LGBT community.”
King saw no hint of homophobia. Said The Daily Beast, "Quite the opposite: He said Mateen knew that he and many of his co-workers at Ruby Tuesday were gay, and didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
“That’s the thing that’s pinning me to the wall the most, that it was a gay nightclub,” King said. “Because he would come into the [the restaurant] and laugh with us. … He might’ve even sat down at the bar and had a drink and laughed with the bartenders, knowing that they were lesbians.”
Fort Pierce
A vigil is planned for Monday at 8 p.m. in Lake Worth at the downtown cultural plaza.
About the Author
