Exclusive: Former coworker said Mateen ‘unhinged and unstable’
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Palm City resident Jerome Kight last week waved to the PGA Village security guard while visiting family in the gated community, not knowing the guard — Omar Mateen — would days later carry out the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history.
“It was the same, ‘How are you?’ Oh, I’m good,’” Kight said of his last conversation with Mateen.
His jaw dropped when he connected the photo splashed across the news and the person he knew. But not from surprise.
“I always knew something was off with him,” Kight said.
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Kight and other former acquaintances and co-workers described him as anti-social, someone who made frequent homophobic and racial comments and was demeaning to women. Kight said women would “get a creepy vibe” when talking with Mateen.
Daniel Gilroy, a former Fort Pierce Police officer who once worked with Mateen at PGA Village, called Mateen “unhinged and unstable.”
Gilroy worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift with G4S Security at the south gate at PGA Village for several months in 2014-15. Mateen took over from him for a 3 to 11 p.m. shift, Gilroy said.
Gilroy said he complained to his employer, G4S Security, several times about Mateen’s homophobic and racial comments, but said it did nothing because Mateen was Muslim. When Gilroy finally confronted Mateen, he said Mateen began stalking him via multiple text messages — 20 or 30 a day. He also sent Gilroy 13 to 15 phone messages a day, he said.
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“I quit because everything he said was toxic,” Gilroy said Sunday. “And the company wouldn’t do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people.”
The company would only say that Mateen worked for it, a spokeswoman said. They couldn’t be reached about Gilroy’s comments.
Gilroy said this shooting didn’t come as a surprise to him. He said he felt responsible and wondered whether he could have changed events had he kept complaining.
“He could have been diverted,” said Gilroy.
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He was always a gentleman
Others, however, remembered a friendly guard who greeted residents at PGA Village, a gated community in western Port St. Lucie.
PGA Village resident Eleanora Dorsi recognized Mateen’s face as a friendly one who guarded her community.
“Whenever I saw him, he was very polite,” Dorsi said Sunday from her summer home in Connecticut. “He was always a gentleman.”
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Dorsi, who has lived in the community since 2011, estimated she saw Mateen a dozen times through the years, but he left a big impression on her because of his chivalry, she said.
“He even helped me with the car once, so I can’t say he was creepy,” she said.
Mateen helped her work the windshield cleaning function in her new car one time, she said.
Dorsi frequently gave Mateen and other PGA Village guards pizza, cookies and candy for their hard work, she said. The last time she saw Mateen was a year ago, Dorsi said.
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“He was always smiling and just seemed like a very nice, positive person,” Dorsi said.
It sent chills down Dorsi’s spine to imagine the man charged with keeping her and other locals safe carried out the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history, she said.
“You would never ever think that he would have done anything like this,” Dorsi said.
“Scary, scary. Very scary. I think everyone feels like that right now,” she added. “It hits too close to home.”
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“He was usually by himself”
A Fort Pierce mosque leader said Mateen was quiet and would not be seen with any friends when he attended nightly prayers at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce.
“He wouldn’t talk or sit with any other members,” said Dr. Syed Shafeeq Rahman, Imam for the mosque.
Rahman said Mateen had attended the mosque since he was 7 years old. He said Mateen’s character had changed over the past 10 years.
“As a child, he was aggressive. He would run and laugh,” Rahman said. “As he got older, he grew quiet. He was usually by himself.”
Rahman, 50, of Fort Pierce, said Mateen would visit the mosque with his son for prayer night a few nights out of the week. He said Mateen’s mother and father attended the mosque separately.
“The father would come to help out,” Rahman said.
Rahman said he found out about the shooting when he got a text from a friend Sunday morning.
“I was shocked. I didn’t think he would harm anyone,” Rahman said. “We don’t promote violence. That’s not what we stand for.”
As an adult, Mateen became devoted to body building and was very muscular, Rahman said.
“I don’t have any knowledge he was with ISIS,” Rahman said. “When something like this happens, it pushes us 10 years back.”
Staff writers Anthony Westbury, Nicole Rodriguez, Elliott Jones, Nicholas Samuel and Colleen Wixon contributed to this report.
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