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Things to know about the Orlando shootings

By Pallavi
|
Google Oneindia News

50 people have been killed mercilessly in Orlando by a man who claimed to be associated with the ISIS.

And the reason why he did so was he was angry on seeing a man kiss another man. While his ex-wife says that 29-year old American-born Omar Mateen was sick mentally, there are other theories that direct to the country's growing intolerance toward gays.

Orlando Shooting

While the state is still mourning the death of so many people, there are certain revelations that are not known to the entire world.

  • Mateen called the 911 during the attack to pledge allegiance to the ISIS and also mentioned the Boston bombers.
  • He was interviewed by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 and was not found to be a threat. In a Sunday afternoon news briefing, FBIAssistant Special Agent Ronald Hopper said the agency was aware of Mateen. The FBI interviewed him in 2013 and 2014 after he expressed sympathy for a suicide bomber, Hopper said."Those interviews turned out to be inconclusive, so there was nothing to keep the investigation going," Hopper said.
  • Mateen was carrying an assault rifle and a pistol into the packed Pulse club
  • Police crashed into the building with an armored vehicle and stun grenades
  • Police had to evacuate 200 people from the apartment where he lived while they looked for evidences in his apartment
  • Mateen's parents who live in Afghanistan said that he had expressed fury seeing a man kissing a man, but they did not realise that this would take such a turn.
  • He was married to Sitora Yusufiy from Uzbekistan, but divorced her in 2011. The former said that the duo were together for four months. In the beginning of the marriage, he seemed to be a normal husband, but started abusing her after a few months. She also revealed that Mateen was bipolar but was never diagnosed formally.
  • Mateen also had history with steroids and was religious, but his wife discounted the fact that the latter could be a reason behind his killing spree.
  • Mateen was employed with the world's largest private security company G4S Secure solutions as a security officer
  • Pulse, the best place for party lovers, especially among the LGBT community was organising an event "Latin flavor" every Saturday Night. When the shooting began, people thought that probably it was part of the event. But the reality seeped in when people started panicking.
  • Police did a very organised job searching for survivors and those who were alive inside the club. Police surrounded the club while Mateen was inside with clubgoers hiding inside the bathroom or the green room. People stranded inside were communicating with the police through mobile phones until 5 am when police broke down the door of the building.
  • 11 Orlando Police officers and 3 Sherrifs who exchanged gunfire with Mateen will be temporarily relieved of duty pending investigation. One officer suffered eye injury as a bullet struck his helmet.
  • Although the attack was appreciated by jihadists, numerous groups, including the Vatican, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned it saying, "This is a hate crime, plain and simple." CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said. "We condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
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