Shooter was in club many times before

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — At least four regular customers at the Orlando gay nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people said Monday that they had seen Omar Mateen there before.

“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,” Ty Smith said.

More details emerged Monday about the 29-yearold gunman and what he did in the days leading up to the massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

He was at Walt Disney World in April, said a Disney manager who requested anonymity. FBI Director James Comey said his agency was trying to nail down that report and the possibility that Mateen was scouting the amusement park as a potential target.

Smith told the Orlando Sentinel that he saw Mateen inside at least a dozen times.

“We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times,” Smith said. “He told us he had a wife and child.”

Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app. They had never met, West said, but he watched as Mateen entered the club about 1 a.m. Sunday, an hour before the shooting began.

Mateen was the security guard, born in New Hyde Park, N.Y., who walked into the club about 2 a.m. Sunday with a semiautomatic pistol and an assault rifle.

While dance music blared, he opened fire, killing 49 people and injuring 53. He died three hours later in a shootout with the Orlando Police Department SWAT team when it stormed the building.

During the standoff, Mateen proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State and his support for the Muslim brothers who set off two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, police said.

Late Monday came word that Mateen’s wife, Noor Zahi Salman, was not cooperating with authorities, according to a law enforcement official. Investigators want to ask if she knew about his plans in advance or helped him scout out targets.

The official said they have talked extensively with Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who told reporters Sunday that the gunman was bipolar and sometimes violent.

Mateen bought the weapons he used — a 9-mm semiautomatic pistol and .223-caliber assault rifle — at St. Lucie Shooting Center a few days before the massacre. Owner Edward Henson on Monday said he “vaguely” remembered him.

“He came and purchased his guns, and he left.”

Although the FBI investigated Mateen for possible connections to Muslim terrorists in 2013 and 2014, they concluded he was not a threat, Comey said. Omar Mateen