He is one of the many who spend the majority of his religious time lamenting on this particular "sin".
Unfortunately, this shows just how little you actually read the things I posted on the subject of sin.
There is no excuse for someone to commit cold blooded murder, as happened in this case.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
J/C I can't believe some of the discussion going on here. Real human lives were lost, don't forget that. An old friend from high school and undergrad was officially added to the victim list one hour ago. I recognized his mom right away pleading on tv for information yesterday. Some idiot even created a fake Facebook page of her to get press saying he didn't make it. She had to hear that he passed all day long by media picking up that fake info without knowing if it was real or not. Unfortunately much later in the day it became real.
Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten how to be humans and instead have become people trying to push agendas. Lots of innocent people lost their lives and that should be ask that matters.
Why bring Obama into this... It's idiotic.. People died and you think it's time to bash Obama...
you obviously missed the point and can't read in context...My point was exactly that...Obama waited all of a couple hours to push his political agenda..with the tragedy that happened, that shouldn't have been even discussed, it should have been caring for the families and assisting all involved. I can't stand Obama, i've never hidden that fact, my point was simply politicians use these tragedies to push their political agendas and its sickening..its the worst when the CIC does it.
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday. -John Wayne
arabian niiiiiiiggghhts, like arabian daaaayyyyys, more hotter than hot!! more often than not!! in a lot of good waaaaayyys
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
While I sort of agree with what you wrote...The leader of ISIS did say they was going to target the homo's..gays whatever..so its no surprise this happened.
What Ive read is this was not the initial target..Disneyland?? or something to do with Disneyland was but it was to protected so he chose the soft target.
This shouldn't be about islam, muslim...........gay, not gay, christians "did this way back....", "more gun laws", etc.
50 people died. Was it a hate crime? At this point, what does it matter, the shooter is dead. And so are 49 others. For what?
It reminds me - well, no, the incident doesn't remind me - the follow up - the t.v. pundits, the print pundits - all the agendas - reminds me/makes me think of this song.
If you can tolerate 3:33 of Kenny Chesney, and if you can look at the broader picture - have at it.
The Attorney to the Stars - Kevin Hayslett 6 hrs ·
Chick-Fil-A Did WHAT After Gay Club Shooting?
Chick Fil A has made national news for it’s owners’ stance on gay marriage. Anytime they do something even remotely non-PC, their supposed slip up goes viral. Hash tags pop up all over the place.
So why is that what they have done in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting hasn’t received a single mention on the mainstream new outlets?
It’s probably because people like New York City Mayor, Bill DeBlasio might have to eat crow instead of chicken. DeBlasio has said that Chick Fil A spreads a message of hate.
Not so yesterday. In a shocking move, the Orlando location at University and Rouse Road quietly fired up its grills on Sunday. The chain is notorious for not being open, ever, on a Sunday. Employees cooked up hundreds of their famous chicken sandwiches. They brewed dozens of gallons of sweet tea.
Then, instead of making a single dime, and without pomp and circumstance they crated the product of their labor to the One Blood donation center. The food and drinks were handed out, free of charge, to all the people who had lined up to donate blood.
So far, the only mentions of the incident have been from individuals on Facebook. They have posted photos thanking the restaurant for their thoughtfulness and generosity.
But, wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay people. Doesn’t Chick Fil A hate gays? That’s what we keep being told.
Turns out, that while the founders definitely don’t approve of that choice of lifestyle, they believe in compassion. Who knew? A bunch of people claiming to be Christians care about others even when they don’t agree with them. This group took time out of their schedules to volunteer to help those who were also trying to do their part.
On top of that, the franchise’s location on Wells Road in Orange Park is even offering coupons for a free frosted lemonade to anyone who donates blood when the One Blood mobile unit is at there store on June 14th.
In times like these it's comforting to share a feel-good story about caring individuals and the company they work for - So much for “Chick Fil hAte” becoming a thing.
The man police say killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning had visited the club at least a dozen times before carrying out his attack, a witness told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, may have also used several different gay dating apps, according to reports from MSNBC and the Los Angeles Times.
Three additional witnesses confirmed that they had seen Mateen at the gay nightclub more than once 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," one witness, Ty Smith, told the Sentinel.
"We didn't really talk to him a lot," he added. "But I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child."
Chris Callen, who performs at Pulse under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told The Canadian Press that Mateen "has been going to this bar for at least three years."
Smith later told The Canadian Press that Mateen said that he "couldn't drink when he was at home—around his wife, or family. His father was really strict."
Smith and Callen say that they stopped talking to Mateen when he pulled a knife on them after they made a religious comment.
"He said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it'll turn out," Callen said.
Reports of Mateen's flashes of anger and aggression align with what Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told CNN on Sunday night.
"In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family, loved to joke, loved to have fun, but then a few months after we were married I saw his instability," she said. "I saw that he was bipolar and he would get mad out of nowhere. That's when I started worrying about my safety."
She told reporters earlier on Sunday that Mateen had beat her and emotionally abused her while they were married between 2009 and 2011.
'He was very creepy in his messages'
An Orlando man told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Monday that he had seen photos of Mateen on the gay dating apps Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Jack'd over the last several years. At least two of the man's friends had been contacted by Mateen on the apps.
"He was very creepy in his messages, and I blocked him immediately," the man said.
Kevin West, another regular at Pulse nightclub, told the Los Angeles Times that he chatted with Mateen on and off for a year on the gay dating app Jack’d, but had never met him in person. Incredibly, West said he met him for the first time as he was dropping a friend off at Pulse on Saturday night.
“He walked directly past me," West said. "I said, ‘Hey,’ and he turned and said, ‘Hey,’” and nodded his head, West said. “I could tell by the eyes.”
The reports come after Samuel King, a drag queen, told The Daily Beast that he had befriended Mateen while the two worked next door to each other in Fort Pierce. King said that Mateen had seemed generally accepting of the fact that he and his friends were openly gay. King said that he even recalls Mateen going at least once to the nightclub where King performed.
Pulse Nighclub Orlando Shooting (REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski) Police lock down Orange Avenue around the Pulse nightclub, where people were killed by a gunman in a shooting rampage, in Orlando, Florida, on June 12. Mateen, a US citizen born in New York in 1986 to two Afghan immigrants, was living in Fort Pierce, Florida, when he rented a car and drove to Orlando to carry out the attack on Sunday morning. An FBI representative said that he "was organized and well prepared" for the attack, and the ATF confirmed that he was armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle and a handgun that he had legally bought a few days before.
Mateen was a security guard and had a Florida firearms license that allowed him to carry concealed weapons. He called 911 during his rampage at Pulse and pledged allegiance to ISIS, while also expressing sympathy for the Boston Marathon bombers and an American suicide bomber who died fighting for Al Qaeda in Syria.
The overnight shooting at the gay nightclub is the deadliest shooting in US history, with more fatalities than the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 (32 dead) and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 (27 dead).
Mateen was the subject of two separate FBI investigations in 2013 and 2014 — the first after he made inflammatory and contradictory statements about terrorism that raised concern with his coworkers, and the second after a source close to the FBI indicated that he may have had ties to the American suicide bomber who prayed at his mosque in Fort Pierce.
The director of the FBI, James Comey, said on Monday that Mateen had mentioned having links to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the ISIS in the past three years, but that the FBI investigations were closed because of a lack of evidence.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
So now the closeted sexual deviant line of the story is about to play itself out does that mean that the ISIS angle loses media traction ? Does the Islamaphobic segment of the population that was about to rear its head go back into their thinly veiled hiding place .? Does the Gun/ Anti gun argument get regurgitated back into the headlines ? Who is your money on ?
The Attorney to the Stars - Kevin Hayslett 6 hrs ·
Chick-Fil-A Did WHAT After Gay Club Shooting?
Chick Fil A has made national news for it’s owners’ stance on gay marriage. Anytime they do something even remotely non-PC, their supposed slip up goes viral. Hash tags pop up all over the place.
So why is that what they have done in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting hasn’t received a single mention on the mainstream new outlets?
It’s probably because people like New York City Mayor, Bill DeBlasio might have to eat crow instead of chicken. DeBlasio has said that Chick Fil A spreads a message of hate.
Not so yesterday. In a shocking move, the Orlando location at University and Rouse Road quietly fired up its grills on Sunday. The chain is notorious for not being open, ever, on a Sunday. Employees cooked up hundreds of their famous chicken sandwiches. They brewed dozens of gallons of sweet tea.
Then, instead of making a single dime, and without pomp and circumstance they crated the product of their labor to the One Blood donation center. The food and drinks were handed out, free of charge, to all the people who had lined up to donate blood.
So far, the only mentions of the incident have been from individuals on Facebook. They have posted photos thanking the restaurant for their thoughtfulness and generosity.
But, wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay people. Doesn’t Chick Fil A hate gays? That’s what we keep being told.
Turns out, that while the founders definitely don’t approve of that choice of lifestyle, they believe in compassion. Who knew? A bunch of people claiming to be Christians care about others even when they don’t agree with them. This group took time out of their schedules to volunteer to help those who were also trying to do their part.
On top of that, the franchise’s location on Wells Road in Orange Park is even offering coupons for a free frosted lemonade to anyone who donates blood when the One Blood mobile unit is at there store on June 14th.
In times like these it's comforting to share a feel-good story about caring individuals and the company they work for - So much for “Chick Fil hAte” becoming a thing.
Well damn! I guess you can be compassionate without agreeing with someone!
WE DON'T NEED A QB BEFORE WE GET A LINE THAT CAN PROTECT HIM my two cents...
So now the closeted sexual deviant line of the story is about to play itself out does that mean that the ISIS angle loses media traction ? Does the Islamaphobic segment of the population that was about to rear its head go back into their thinly veiled hiding place .? Does the Gun/ Anti gun argument get regurgitated back into the headlines ? Who is your money on ?
I dunno. I mean everything said about ISIS is true.
However, it kinda takes the scare tactic away when a kid uses it as a cover story for his true intentions.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
He could be a lot of things all wrapped up into a crap package.
But at this point, I dunno what the hell to think.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Philadelphia, PA) June 12, 2016: Early Sunday, around 2AM Eastern Time, the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was attacked by an armed individual. Approximately 20 persons were killed and over double that wounded when the attacker, whom police have identified as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old from Fort Pierce, FL, pushed his way into the club and opened fire on patrons. Weapons carried by Mateen are reported as an “assault-type” rifle, a handgun, and a suspected explosive device. UPDATE: Reports are that the death toll is around 50, with over 50 more wounded.
“It appears he was organized and well-prepared,” said Orlando Police Chief John Mina at a news conference on Sunday. Additionally, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said “This is an incident … that we certainly classify as a domestic terror incident.” Authorities say the FBI is involved. Preliminary information reveals that Omar Mateen’s family is from Afghanistan, though Omar may have been born in the United States. His family is reported to be distraught at the actions and loss of their son.
Gwendolyn Patton, First Speaker of the Pink Pistols, an international GLBT self-defense organization, warns people not to jump immediately to the assailant’s guns as the object of blame, but to concentrate instead on Mateen’s violent acts. “The Pink Pistols gives condolences to all family and friends of those killed and injured at Pulse,” began Patton. “This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence. At such a time of tragedy, let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns. Let us stay focused on the fact that someone hated gay people so much they were ready to kill or injure so many. A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul. I say again, GUNS did not do this. A human being did this, a dead human being. Our job now is not to demonize the man’s tools, but to condemn his acts and work to prevent such acts in the future.”
Patton’s concerns are that knee-jerk gun-control efforts may make preventing future events harder rather than easier, as only the law-abiding potential victims will be affected by such laws. “It is difficult, if not impossible, to foresee such an event,” continues Patton, “But if they cannot be prevented, then they must be stopped as fast as someone tries to start them.”
Some bars and other establishments that serve alcohol are difficult to protect because many states forbid the carrying of weapons where alcohol is served, but that just as one might have a designated driver who stays sober, one might have a designated carrier with a concealed-carry permit who goes armed and does not drink. “It’s sad that we must consider such things, but when there are persons out there who mean us harm, we must find ways to protect ourselves within the law.” Patton concludes.
The Pink Pistols is an international organization dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the sexual-minority community. Chapters may be found across the United States and Canada. Though the Pink Pistols is for the GLBTQ community, it is not solely composed of the GLBTQ community, and all are welcome to join.
Contact: Gwendolyn S. Patton First Speaker, Pink Pistols International firstspeaker@pinkpistols.org http://www.pinkpistols.org Ph: (610) 879-2364
So now the closeted sexual deviant line of the story is about to play itself out does that mean that the ISIS angle loses media traction ? Does the Islamaphobic segment of the population that was about to rear its head go back into their thinly veiled hiding place .? Does the Gun/ Anti gun argument get regurgitated back into the headlines ? Who is your money on ?
I dunno. I mean everything said about ISIS is true.
However, it kinda takes the scare tactic away when a kid uses it as a cover story for his true intentions.
Is it possible that the guy has ISIS leanings...definitely a muslim...he has been over to middle east for training..maybe not?? but Swish you was in Iraq, Ive been there and lived in other places in the middle east...they have to haqve their women covered head to toe but the grown men love little boys and grown man love...I wont even get into their problems with goats.
So I guess what I'm saying is...its entirely possible he had homo/gay leanings but is still a ISIS sympathizer...told his wife he was targeting Disney but decided on Pulse due to his uncontrollable urge to be with men..wife couldnt please him in that way..and he goes to take his ideology and in his mind he cant grasp why he loves man love more then his own wife/x wife and kills the gays in an extraordinary fashion.
May be why he beat the hell out of his first wife...fighting his latent homosexual tendencies and couldnt process or deal with it.
I believe it is Islamic terror related but will acknowledge it could also be what I typed above...a mixture of both. He would not be the first umm....confused muslim on why he likes little boys/men/or goats.
maybe, but if we're gonna dwell on the psyche of this guy, then we're missing one big piece to the puzzle:
ISIS claiming responsibility.
now, i know some of you guys are gonna think "it doesn't matter". But FBH, you know as well i as i do that if this was an ISIS attack, they would've claimed responsibility already.
i'm not saying they won't in the future, but typically they will go ahead and claim responsibility within a 24 hour period of an attack happening.
so, it breaks down to this:
Muslim kid
closet homosexual
got married probably trying to cover up the fact that he's gay
doesn't know how to come out. confused.
in an identity crisis because he hates who he is. is that because of religion or....?
so he attempted to reach out to terrorist groups. the question is....did they respond back?
and that's the issue. FBH, you and i both know that the moment he would've stepped off the plane in the middle east trying to contact ISIS, they would've beheaded him for being gay. it doesn't matter if he wanted to conduct a terrorist act. he's gay, they make no exceptions to the rules.
so...most likely he paid for his gun with his own money. as far as reaching out, if he never actually got into contact with someone, hell, you can watch ISIS propaganda videos on YouTube.
So now i'm looking at his parents. Afghani heritage, but since he was born in america and is 29, most likely they came over during the reagan years.(I'm speculating, you reagan worshippers calm your horses for a moment).
so you got a 2nd generation middle eastern kid growing up in America. based off the intel, he's tried joining the police force.
So i'm guessing this hatred is a somewhat recent manifestation. maybe it started when this country becoming islamaphobic? that's how a lot of those kids in europe start repping ISIS; it's the hatred from others for their religion that pushes them over. it's like joining a gang. i explained that to you guys months ago.
anyways, my point is that a big piece of the puzzle rest with ISIS claiming responsibility.
everyone agrees that they are the worst of the worst. we've all acknowledge that.
however, ISIS-inspired and ISIS claimed attack are two different things, and we need to be aware of that.
if a white guy hangs a black dude from a tree, and then claims he wanted to be in the KKK, does that mean the KKK did it, or some wacko who wanted to be part of the treehouse club didn't make the cut and went solo dolo?
it might be inspired, but as objective as i'm trying to be, i couldn't really place any blame on the organization themselves.
what i'm saying is we need to be careful that we don't start mixing facts with propaganda and misinformation.
at the end of the day, it's a mixture of religion, hatred for gays, and hatred for ones self. i would still consider this radical islamic terrorism, but i dunno if we can pin point this to ISIS just yet.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Good points but I thought ISIS did claim to be responsible??
I could be wrong but I swear I read that they did...IDK Swish I could be thinking of another person...I read to much and it tends to blur together...now I have to go look..poo.
So now that's that added, now we have to figure out why.
Self hatred? To the point you gotta contact a group you know hates your own demographic?
I dunno if I ever seen something like that before.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I prefer to run with this idea. ISIS has gay members. If they believe that maybe they can spend the next ten years killing each other off instead of others.
It sounds like he part of a bunch of different demographics
Hanging out with ex marines turned radicals.
Hanging out a gay bars.
Trying to be a straight male by marrying some chick
Tried joining the police force.
The biggest conflict of interest comes from being a gay Muslim. And obviously, religion won out.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
sorry man shouldve been more clear...he wanted to be around radicals ISIS sympathizers...the sub groups was just that a sub group. His main theme...terrorist and wanted to be around the same ilk.
Now the gay feelings/problems he was struggling with is real I believe. But what I read was his initial target was Disney but found it to be to well protected and chose the easier target.
IDk Swish its a little more complex then I originally thought.
I did wonder when this first happen which of the protected class was the media going to back or rally behind...gays or muslims....but man what a trifecta democrat, muslim, and possibly gay to boot.
The story does get more crazy as more info comes out...then I just read how many people got shot by the POLICE...what a cluster man.
Correct Con.. Politicians and others have simply forgotten that there was a loss of life.. Instead of just expressing condolences, they feel the need to bash a life style or the opposite party... Seems rather out of place to me.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Correct Con.. Politicians and others have simply forgotten that there was a loss of life.. Instead of just expressing condolences, they feel the need to bash a life style or the opposite party... Seems rather out of place to me.
What bothers me is the bodies arent even cold and it went straight to the gun control narrative straight away...from our wonderful leaders.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — As thousands in Orlando turned out to mourn 49 people killed inside a gay nightclub, federal investigators examined possible motives for the gunman who committed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The White House and the FBI said 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American-born Muslim, appears to be a "homegrown extremist" who had touted support not just for the Islamic State, but other radical groups that are its enemies.
"So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI Director James Comey said Monday. He said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the internet.
Despite Mateen's pledge of support to the Islamic State, other possible explanations emerged. His ex-wife said he suffered from mental illness. His Afghan-immigrant father suggested he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, and said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. But questions also emerged over whether Mateen was conflicted about his own sexuality.
Jim Van Horn, 71, said Mateen was a "regular" at the popular Pulse nightclub where he'd later take hostages and leave 49 dead.
"He was trying to pick up people. Men," Van Horn told The Associated Press late Monday outside the Parliament House, another gay club.
Van Horn, a retired pharmacist, said he met Mateen once, and the younger man talked about his ex-wife. But Van Horn said his friends soon "told me they didn't want me talking to him, because they thought he was a strange person."
Van Horn acknowledged that he didn't know Mateen well, but said he suspects that the massacre was less about Islamic extremism and more about a man conflicted about his sexuality.
"I think it's possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality," said Van Horn, who lost three friends in the shooting. "It's really confusing to me. Because you can't change who you are. But if you pretend that you're different, then you may shoot up a gay bar."
The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations quoted other regulars from Pulse who said they had seen Mateen there a number of times.
"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," said Ty Smith, who remembered seeing Mateen inside at least a dozen times.
On Monday night, just about a mile from Pulse in downtown Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors. The names of the dead were read aloud. It was held on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue, where mourners created a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims.
Many said they felt compelled to attend because of the role Pulse played in their lives.
"It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time," said Cathleen Daus, now 36, who worked at Pulse in her 20s. "Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else."
Some, including Jason Primar, who lost two friends in the massacre, released balloons that flew high above the downtown skyscrapers.
Primar went to Pulse at 2 a.m. Sunday, hoping for a good time with friends. Instead, he was greeted with gunshots and worries about those inside.
"I felt like I was over in Iraq," he said. He called his two friends inside; they never answered. He later discovered they died.
Comey said the FBI also was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source.
"We're still working through that," Comey said.
He defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, "so far, the honest answer is, I don't think so," Comey said.
Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at Pulse early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group.
At the White House, President Barack Obama said there is no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism." Obama will traveling to Orlando on Thursday to pay respect to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, according to the White House.
More details of the massacre emerged, with Orlando police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with negotiators. But Mina said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and talked about bombs and an explosive vest.
"We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him.
The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. Sunday was Latino Night at the club.
"As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," said Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist. "These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed."
Five of the wounded were reported in grave condition, meaning the death toll could rise. A call has gone out for blood donations.
Mateen's grasp of the differences between Islamic extremist groups appeared shaky.
During three calls with 911 dispatchers, Mateen not only professed allegiance to the Islamic State but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front, and a few years ago he claimed connections to Hezbollah, too — both ISIS enemies, according to Comey.
The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that the private security guard claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, too, Comey said. He was also quoted as saying he hoped law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so that he could martyr himself.
The FBI launched a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim, and the FBI eventually closed the case, Comey said.
His name surfaced again as part of another investigation into the Nusra Front bomber. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence," Comey said.
Mateen was added to a terror watch list in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Comey.
People who are in that database are not automatically barred from buying guns. Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after his removal from the list.
The Islamic State's radio hailed the attack and called Mateen "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." But it gave no indication the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand.
Counterterrorism experts have been warning in the past few years about the danger of so-called lone wolf attackers who act in sympathy with extremist groups but aren't directed by them.
Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, said the massacre was "the act of a terrorist," and added: "I apologize for what my son did. I am as sad and mad as you guys are."
He wouldn't go into details about his son's religious or political views, saying he didn't know. Asked whether he missed his son, he said: "I don't miss anything about him. What he did was against humanity."
____
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington; Allen Breed, Mike Schneider and Tamara Lush in Orlando; and photographers Chris O'Meara in Orlando and Alan Diaz in Fort Pierce contributed to this report.
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