The father of a gunman who killed 50 people in an Orlando gay club says he did not know that his son had “hatred in his heart”.
Omar Mateen killed 50 people and wounded 53 more in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history, before being shot dead by police.
Seddique Mateen said he did not understand why his son carried out the shooting at the Pulse nightclub.
He had earlier said his son was angered after seeing two men kissing in Miami.
In a statement posted online and addressed to people in his native Afghanistan, Seddique Mateen said his son was “a very good boy”, who had a wife and a child.
“I don’t know what caused it,” he said. “I never figured out that he had hatred in his heart….I am grief-stricken and I have announced this to the people of the United States.”
He added he did not know why his son committed such an act during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The so-called Islamic State group (IS), which said it was behind the shootings, had called for attacks on the West during Ramadan.
On Sunday, Seddique Mateen said: “We are apologising for the whole incident. We are in shock, like the whole country.”
The attack began at about 02:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday. There was an exchange of fire with a police officer working at the club, after which the suspect took hostages.
At 05:00 a police assault team went into the club after police received text messages and phone calls from some of the hostages. Mateen was killed in an exchange of fire.
States of emergency have been declared in the city of Orlando and surrounding Orange County.
Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan descent who was born in New York and lived in Florida, was not on a terrorism watch list.
However, the FBI interviewed him twice in 2013-14 after he made “inflammatory remarks” to a colleague, before closing its investigation.
Mateen legally purchased several guns in the past few days.
A statement on the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said that an IS “fighter” was responsible.
NBC News reported that Mateen had called the emergency services before the attack and sworn allegiance to IS.
n Sunday, Mateen’s father said religion had nothing to do with the attack.
Seddique Mateen said his son saw two men kissing in downtown Miami some months ago and became very angry.
A security company that Mateen used to work for said he was vetted twice.
The checks in 2007 and 2013 did not reveal anything of concern, G4S said, and Mateen had carried a gun as part of his job.
Mateen’s ex-wife has said he was “mentally unstable” and “disturbed”.
Sitora Yusufiy lived with Mateen for four months in 2009. She said her family “rescued” her from the relationship when they became aware that he was being physically abusive.
He beat her up regularly during their short-lived marriage for trivial things like not doing laundry, she said.
“When he would get in his tempers, he would express hate toward everything. He was mentally unstable and mentally ill: that’s the only explanation that I could give.”
US President Barack Obama described the attack as “an act of terror and an act of hate”
It was a further reminder of how easy it was to acquire a deadly weapon in the US and shoot people, he said.
“We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be,” said the president, who has campaigned for stricter gun laws. “To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”
Later the White House said Mr Obama had postponed a joint appearance with the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, Hillary Clinton.
Mrs Clinton said in a statement: “This reminds us once more that weapons of war have no place on our streets.”
And in a message to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people, she said: “We will keep fighting for your right to live freely, openly and without fear. Hate has absolutely no place in America.”
Meanwhile her Republican rival, Donald Trump, said Mr Obama should step down for refusing to use the words “radical Islam” when condemning the attack.
“If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country any more,” he said.
The head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged politicians not to “score points” or “exploit fear”.
In a direct message to IS, Nihad Awad said: “You do not speak for us. You do not represent us. You are an aberration.”(BBC News)
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36514608
20
