People hug as they stand together during a memorial service at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the victims of the Pulse gay nightclub shooting, June 13, 2016, Orlando, Florida. (Photo : Getty Images)
Omar Mateen, 29, made headlines after shooting 49 people to death and injured 53 others at gay-friendly nightclub Pulse on June 12, Sunday. A Navy veteran recently claimed that the killer, who was eventually killed by the police, reached out to him on a dating app for men called Jack'd.
"He walked directly past me," Kevin West, 37, said of Mateen in an interview with Los Angeles Times. "I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,' and nodded his head. I could tell by the eyes."
According to West, he was in the parking lot at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, Sunday, at 1 a.m. when he saw Mateen walking in. The Navy veteran said he had previously seen Mateen at Pulse several times.
In 2013, West and Mateen met and did not meet again until the latter recently contacted the former in April informing him that he would be in Orlando soon and they could meet for a drink, the former claimed. Other people also corroborated Mateen's previous visits to Pulse and presence on gay dating apps.
At least four regular customers at Pulse told Orlando Sentinel that they had seen Mateen at the Orlando gay-friendly nightclub before. Ty Smith told the publication, "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent."
Smith said people at the nightclub did not really talk to Mateen that much. However, the former said he remembers the latter saying things about his father at times and told them he had a wife and child.
Born in New Hyde Park, New York, to Afghan parents, Mateen attended Martin County High School and St. Lucie West Centennial High School. He graduated from Indian River State College with two degrees in science in 2006 and 2007.
In April 2009, Mateen married Sitora Yusifiy, an Uzbekistan-born woman, but they separated after four months. Their divorce was finalized in July 2011.
Mateen then lived with a woman named Noor Salman. It has yet to be confirmed if they were married but they had a three-year-old son.
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