A man who claims to have had a sexual relationship with Orlando killer Omar Mateen says the massacre at the Pulse nightclub was “revenge,” not terrorism.
Mateen’s former lover, who was identified only as “Miguel” in an interview with Spanish-language network Univision, said he and Mateen were “friends with benefits” for roughly two months after meeting on a gay dating site. The two had met 15 to 20 times, with their last tryst occurring in December of 2015.
Miguel told reporter Maria Elena Salinas that he would have never suspected Mateen to be capable of carrying out the mass shooting that led to the deaths of 49 and the wounding of over 50 others.
“I never detected anything. He was a very sweet guy,” Miguel said. “He loved to cuddle… That was one of the things I was starting to see from him. He was looking for love. He wanted to be embraced.”
Miguel added that in conversations with Mateen about his practice of Islam, the Orlando shooter described his Muslim faith as a “beautiful and spiritual religion.”
“It’s a religion where everything is about love. Everybody is welcome. Gay, trans, bisexual, hetero, everybody,” Miguel said.
This seems to fly in the face of the official narrative that Mateen was motivated by a desire to carry out an attack of Islamic terror in the name of ISIS, based on the 911 call he made on the night of the shooting.
According to Miguel, Mateen became enraged that a former gay lover had told him after their relationship that he had contracted the HIV virus. He also felt spurned by clubgoers at Pulse, feeling they had used him for sex.
“He adored Latinos, gay Latinos, with brown skin – but he felt rejected. He felt used by them – there were moments in the Pulse nightclub that made him feel really bad. Guys used him. That really affected him,” Miguel said. “I believe this crazy horrible thing he did – that was revenge.”
Mateen had deeply conflicted emotions regarding his sexuality, as Miguel described him as “100 percent gay” and said he only maintained a marriage to hold up a heterosexual screen. Miguel told Salinas that on one particular night, Mateen, who never revealed his name to Miguel, asked Miguel for a private conversation, in which he informed his lover that he was married and had a child. After a long conversation in which Miguel asked Mateen what he wanted, Mateen had said he wanted to continue their relationship in secret.
He added that he was completely stunned when he heard about the massacre. “My reaction was that can’t be the man I know. It’s impossible that the man I know could do that,” Miguel said.
The FBI confirmed they had spoken to Miguel as part of their investigation, but would not confirm or deny any of the details of the bombshell interview.
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email a [email protected]