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Lucylastic -> RE: Mass Shooting in Florida (6/12/2016 9:30:23 AM)
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http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/terror-hate-what-motivated-orlando-nightclub-shooter-n590496
updated
Orlando club shooter's father: 'We apologize to everyone'
While no one may ever know what was truly going on in the head of the man who shot over 100 people at a gay nightclub in Florida early Sunday, his family says he may have been motivated by pure hate against the LGBT community.
Various law enforcement officials have identified the shooter at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando as Omar Mateen, 29, who was born in New York and lived in Port St. Lucie on Florida's eastern shores.
The attack, which claimed at least 50 lives, is considered the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. While authorities are still investigating what motivated the gunman, the shooting is being considered an act of terrorism.
Mateen, who was carrying a handgun and AR-15-type rifle, died after a SWAT team stormed the club, police said. The shooter, who worked in security, according to the family, had active security officer and firearms licenses, records show.
Records also show he had filed a petition for a name change in 2006 from Omar Mir Seddique to Omar Mir Seddique Mateen.
Because of his name and heritage, there were immediate questions about Mateen's possible ties to Islamic fundamentalism — but his father said it may have been a recent incident involving two men showing each other affection that set the gunman off.
"We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music. And he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry," Mir Seddique, told NBC News on Sunday. "They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, 'Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.' And then we were in the men's bathroom and men were kissing each other."
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