I.S. GUNMAN KILLS 50 IN GAY CLUB
÷FBI quizzed killer 3 times but let him go ÷Rampage is deadliest spree in US history ÷UK security services quiz his London family
THE US is reeling from the deadliest mass shooting in its history after an Islamic extremist killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others in a Florida nightclub.
In the most serious terror attack on American soil since 9/11, a gunman pledged to Islamic State targeted revellers in an Orlando gay club in the early hours of yesterday.
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen of Afghan parentage who had come to the attention of the FBI for his extremist views, opened fire in the Pulse club while it was packed with 320 people at 2am.
The FBI were facing tough questions last night after it emerged it had interviewed Mateen three times, but taken no action.
Officials said the bureau became aware of him in 2013 when he made ‘inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible terrorist ties’. He was interviewed twice by FBI agents but they were unable to prove exactly what he had allegedly said and the case was closed.
He appeared on the FBI’s radar again in 2014 when it investigated his possible ties to an American suicide bomber in Syria.
As the killer’s former wife said he was mentally unstable and regularly beat her up, sources told The Sun last night that British security services were questioning Mateen’s relatives in London.
Police are looking into whether the terror attack on the Bataclan theatre in Paris last November, in which 89 people died, had given Mateen the idea for his killing spree. Another theory was put forward by the gunman’s father, who said his son had recently been ‘furious’ when he saw two men kissing, and his homophobia may have been behind the massacre.
Minutes before opening fire, Mateen called emergency services to alert police and pledge allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also referred to Boston marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The gunman took hostages during a three-hour standoff, before a police SWAT team smashed through a wall in an armoured vehicle and shot him dead.
Mateen, a father of a three-yearold boy, had worked as a security guard for British multinational company G4S since 2007. He was armed with a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, handgun and a suspected explosive device strapped to his body when he opened fire inside the club shortly before closing time.
He had fitted the AR-15, a deadly ‘civilian’ version of a military assault rifle, with high-capacity magazines – legal under Florida law – that can hold 100 rounds each.
Orlando is a popular tourist desti- nation for Britons, and the Pulse nightclub is only 17 miles from Disney World.
An off-duty police officer providing security at the club entrance heard the shots and ran inside, where he was injured in an exchange of gunfire with the gunman.
Terrified club-goers threw themselves to the floor, ran for the exits or sought shelter in the lavatories. Some of the stage performers managed to get out by crawling through air-conditioning ducts.
The gunman took 30 hostages that he found hiding in the lavatories. Chilling phone text messages between those trapped inside and their loved ones outside revealed the terrifying situation.
Rosie Feba said thought the shots were ‘part of the music’ until she saw ‘fire coming out of his gun’. Christopher Hansen described being splattered with blood as the gunfire broke out. ‘I didn’t know if it was mine or somebody else’s,’ he said.
‘When I got out I realised it was someone else’s. The person I was with had been shot in the back. I had to take my bandana off and put it in the bullet hole.’ During the three-hour stand-off, negotiators spoke to Mateen and some of the hostages contacted police on their mobile phones.
A nine-man heavily armed police SWAT team finally ended the siege at 5.15am by smashing through one of the venue’s walls in an armoured car. They threw stun grenades to distract Mateen and then shot him dead after a fierce gun battle. All 30 hostages were saved.
Last night activist Peter Tatchell warned that gay groups and venues in the UK should now increase security. He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘It has always been on the cards that Islamist extremists might target Jewish, gay and liberal Muslim people in the West. In light of this attack, it is obvious that gay organisations and venues should redouble their security in the US, Britain and other Western countries.’
Barack Obama said the Florida attack was ‘an act of terror and an act of hate’ and called on Americans not to ‘give in to fear’. He said the massacre was a ‘further reminder’ of the easy availability of guns to would-be killers. The Pope expressed
‘An act of terror and an act of hate’
his ‘deepest horror’ and David Cameron said he was ‘horrified’.
According to the Amaq news agency, widely seen as an IS propaganda outlet, the terror group claimed responsibility for the massacre and described Mateen as a ‘soldier of the caliphate’.
Investigators were last night doubtful that Mateen was in direct contact with IS but had instead been inspired by it online.
Finding it increasingly hard to infiltrate the US from the Middle East, Islamic State is concentrating on inspiring homegrown jihadis. They have become adept at encouraging radicalised Americans through social media, including married couple Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who shot and killed 14 people in California in December.
US security experts admitted such
shootings were becoming the ‘new norm’ in a country of rampant gun ownership.
Mateen lived 125 miles from Orlando in the Florida town of Port St Lucie. His father, Sedmonths dique, insisted the attack had ‘nothing to do with religion’ and suggested it was driven by homophobia. He described how he, Mateen and the gunman’s son had visited Miami several ago and witnessed men kissing each other. Mateen had been furious that he and his young son had to see it, said his father. Mr Mateen said: ‘We are apologising for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country.’
It emerged last night that Afghan-born Seddique Mateen hosts a California TV programme called the Durand Jirga Show, known for its ‘anti-US tirades’ and ‘pro-Taliban’ remarks.
Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, an Uzbek immigrant living in New Jersey, said she met him online about eight years ago, and decided to move to Florida to marry him. At the time, he worked as a security guard at a juvenile delinquents facility and was not particularly religious, she said.
Although their marriage was at first normal, she claimed he soon became abusive.
‘He was not a stable person. He beat me,’ she said. ‘He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.’ The marriage ended after only a few months.
A man was arrested yesterday after loading his car with weapons and chemicals, and he told police he intended to target a Gay Pride event.
James Howell, 20, was arrested at 5am in Santa Monica, California, after neighbours reported suspicious behaviour. In his car, officers found three assault rifles and a bucket with chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device.
Police said they had found no evidence of a connection between the arrest and the killings in Orlando.