FBI officials told participants on a conference call late Monday that they would investigate the reports that the alleged shooter behind the Orlando massacre was conflicted about his sexuality, the Guardian reported. The move comes as multiple people have come forward with accounts about the alleged shooter, Omar Mateen, that suggest his sexuality may have played a role in the shooting, which left nearly 50 people at a gay night club dead.
One former policy academy colleague of Mateen’s told the Palm Beach Post that Mateen had asked him out and they had frequented gay clubs together. The Orlando Sentinel published a report that regulars at Pulse, the Orlando night club targeted early Sunday, had seen Mateen at the club a number of times before the shooting. He also is believed to have had a profile on a gay dating app, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Guardian report of the conference call cites an unnamed a senior U.S. official. The call was held with 358 civil-rights-minded leaders, including those in the LGBT and Muslim communities, as well as officials from the FBI, the Departments of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, the Guardian said.
