Zitkle, who now lives in Tennessee, was a freshman at Martin County High School at the time. “We told him if he didn’t stop making noises, we were going to beat him up.” Zirkle said he and other students warned Mateen that he needed to stop. We were all, like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Zirkle recalled. I don’t know if he was always a Muslim radical, but he was excited, hyped up. “He started acting crazy, joking around the fact that 9/11 happened, making plane noises on the school bus and pretending he was slamming into the building,” said Robert Zirkle, who rode the school bus every day with Mateen in Stuart, Fla., 15 years ago. Many who had known Mateen continued to come forward, sharing recollections.Ī high school acquaintance recalled that Mateen was a “regular dude” until the Sept. He also is believed to have visited other gay venues to check out as potential targets, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said it was clear from the evidence that Mateen’s visit involved more than tourism, but cautioned that agents may never learn fully whether he was casing Disney properties for a potential attack. The FBI has obtained evidence that Mateen visited and perhaps scoped out Disney World in recent months, one U.S. No issues involving encrypted data - a major stumbling block in the investigation into the San Bernardino attacks - have emerged, the official said. Nothing has come up yet suggesting ties to terrorist groups, but the official cautioned that the investigation was in its early stages. They have also obtained access to at least one email account, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. He added that fear “is what these savages want.”įBI agents scrambled Monday to recover data from Mateen’s electronic media - cellphones, computers and other devices - hoping to find clues to what sparked the massacre at the nightclub, according to current and former FBI officials. We hope that our fellow Americans will not let fear become disabling,” Comey said. “We know that this killing is upsetting to all Americans. Comey defended his agents’ work but said the agency would still conduct a review. Both investigations were closed without an arrest. The FBI also briefly investigated Mateen in 2014 on suspicion of watching videos by Al Qaeda propagandist Anwar Awlaki and for attending a mosque in Florida with a man who later became a suicide bomber for Al Nusra Front in Syria, which also opposes Islamic State. Both groups oppose Islamic State and each other. The FBI previously investigated Mateen, a security guard, for 11 months for telling co-workers in 2013 that he had relatives connected to Al Qaeda, the Sunni Muslim extremist group, while claiming he was a member of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, Comey said. Fifty-three more were wounded.īut Mateen, who was born in New York, had also expressed solidarity with the 2013 Boston bombers and an American suicide bomber who belonged to an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria opposed to Islamic State, Comey said. Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed by a SWAT team and was among the 50 found dead at the site. On Sunday morning, Mateen told a 911 dispatcher that he was attacking Pulse on behalf of the leader of Islamic State, FBI Director James B. See more of our top stories on Facebook » “Watch that space,” the official said.Īlso Monday, officials said Mateen appeared to have been radicalized by Islamic extremists on the Internet but expressed sympathies with radical groups that violently oppose each other. Investigators are looking at reports that Mateen visited gay clubs and was using gay dating apps, a law enforcement official said.
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