Omar Mateen | |
|---|---|
 Driver's license photo of Mateen | |
| Born | Omar Mir Seddique November 16, 1986 New Hyde Park, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 12, 2016 (aged 29) Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Resting place | Muslim Cemetery of South Florida, Hialeah Gardens, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Security guard |
| Known for | Perpetrator of the Orlando nightclub shooting |
| Spouses | Sitora Yusufiy
(m. 2009; div. 2011)Noor Salman (m. 2011) |
| Allegiance |  Islamic State(pledged during attack) |
| Motive | Revenge for killing of Abu Waheeb, frustration with American foreign policy in the Middle East |
| Details | |
| Date | June 12, 2016 2:02 a.m. – 5:14 a.m. EDT (UTC−04:00) |
| Location(s) | Orlando, Florida, United States |
| Target(s) | Patrons of Pulse nightclub |
| Killed | 49 |
| Injured | 53 |
| Weapons | |
Omar Mir Seddique Mateen[1] (Pashto: عمر مير صديق متين; born Omar Mir Seddique; November 16, 1986 – June 12, 2016) was an American terrorist and mass murderer who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016, before he was killed in a shootout with the local police. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history until the Las Vegas Strip shooting on October 1, 2017, and it is the deadliest known incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history.[2]
Born in New York to Afghan-American parents, his family moved to Florida as a child, where he displayed an interest in violence and had behavioral problems in school, including struggling academically and receiving numerous suspensions.[3] As an adult, he drifted through various jobs and a failed marriage before eventually becoming a security guard by profession.[4] Before the shooting, he had been investigated for connections to terrorism by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2013 and 2014. During that period, he was placed on the Terrorist Screening Database, but was subsequently removed.[5] In a call to 911 during the shooting, Mateen identified himself as "Mujahideen," "Islamic Soldier," and "Soldier of God";[6][7] and pledged his allegiance multiple times to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who at the time was the leader of the militant jihadist group, the Islamic State.[8] He said the shooting was "triggered" by an airstrike in Iraq that killed Abu Waheeb, an IS commander, six weeks before.[9]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
WilliamsConnorOrtizGoskwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Schorsch, Peter (June 19, 2016). "The latest on club massacre — Pulse shooting victim named honorary firefighter". Florida Politics. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- ^ "Omar Mateen drifted through marriages, jobs, life". Miami Herald. June 14, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- ^ Berman, Russell (June 14, 2016). "Could Congress Have Stopped Omar Mateen From Getting His Guns? Democrats say yes. Here's their case for a firearms restriction on people on the terrorist watch list". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Doornbos, Caitlin (September 23, 2016). "Transcripts of 911 calls reveal Pulse shooter's terrorist motives". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Harris, Alex (September 24, 2016). "Mateen said he slaughtered club patrons to avenge U.S. airstrikes". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Kirby, Jen (September 26, 2016). "Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen Name-drops Obscure ISIS Terrorist in 911 Transcripts". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on September 28, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Frosch, Dan; Hong, Nicole (September 27, 2016). "Transcripts Show ISIS Influence on Orlando Gunman: Omar Mateen cited the death of an Islamic State leader as a motivation for the June massacre". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 28, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.