As the investigation into Orlanda gunman Omar Mateen continues, much of the public discussion has been around allegations that Mateen was not merely motivated by deep homophobia, but was also gay himself.
We covered an interview on Univision with a man who claimed to have been Mateen’s lover. He said that the gunman had been motivated by revenge, and not terrorism.
Now, the Los Angeles Times reports that federal investigators do not believe there is any credible evidence at this point that Mateen had male lovers or had been using gay dating apps, despite these claims.
The FBI have reportedly culled as much electronic data as they can get on Mateen, including “a laptop computer and cellphone, as well as electronic communications of those who made the claims” and have found no messages, apps, photographs or location data that suggest Mateen was living a double life as a gay man.
They believe that the men making these claims – including ‘Miguel’, the man from the Univision interview – are either not credible or had confused Mateen for someone else. On the flip side of the coin, the FBI also have not uncovered any direct links between Mateen and the Islamic State.
However, the men who have made these claims stand by them. The LA Times spoke to a man named Kevin West, who says that he definitely saw Mateen on dating app Jack’d, and recognised him when he entered Pulse nightclub on the night of the shooting.
“No one is lying about him being on there,” West said, referring to the dating apps. “Once you have the app and delete your profile, it’s gone.”
Some of the men interviewed by the FBI, including Pulse regular Cord Cedeno, do not trust investigators to make the right calls about Mateen, given that they let him go after questioning in 2013 and 2014. “They let him go. They let him do this massacre,” said Cordeno.
The investigation continues.
Source: Los Angeles Times.
Photo: Supplied.
