Visit here for full coverage of the Orlando mass shooting.
While it’s unclear if Omar Mateen---gunman accused of carrying out the deadly terrorist attack in an Orlando nightclub---had Facebook or Twitter accounts, he apparently had a MySpace page.
The MySpace page includes several photos of him, but it doesn’t offer much in terms of context, including his interests. He only has six people connected to him. The photos he posted on the page were being shared en masse on social media websites.
Several Facebook pages with the name “Omar Mateen” appear to have been set up after the terrorist attack.
A “public figure” page with several-hundred likes that looks as if it was set up Sunday only has two posts, with one warning about prejudice against Muslims.
“Omar Mateen doesn’t represent all muslims! Don’t use this isolated incident to spread your hateful agenda. If Omar Mateen represents all muslims, what do Anders Breivik, Dylan Roof, and Adam Lanza represent about white people?” it asks. Breivik, Roof, and Lanza are also mass recent mass shooters.
Several other Facebook pages with his MySpace profile picture were also set up.
Several U.S. officials said that Mateen had pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Mateen, who was later killed by police, made a call to 911, mentioning ISIS and the Boston Marathon bombing before the shooting took place.
California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., cited local law enforcement as saying Mateen declared his loyalty to ISIS, which “indicates an ISIS-inspired act of terrorism,” Fox News reported.
Schiff, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, added: “Whether this attack was also ISIS-directed, remains to be determined. I’m confident that we will know much more in the coming hours and days.”
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., a House Homeland Security Committee member, added that Mateen was “trained in weapons.”
“I don’t want to release it before they do, but I can understand why the FBI was so quick to say this morning that they thought this had ISIS connections or at least ISIS ideology,” said King.
A senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast that Mateen became a person of interest in 2013 and also in 2014, and the FBI opened an investigation into him but closed the case when nothing of note was produced. “He’s a known quantity,” the source said. “He’s been on the radar before.”
Mateen’s father Mir Seddique told NBC News: “We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country.”
President Barack Obama responded to the shooting on Sunday, describing it as an “act of terror and an act of hate.”
“Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder, horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” he said in a brief statement broadcast by C-SPAN. “We pray for the families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch also released a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families during this very difficult time,” Lynch said. “The Department of Justice, including the FBI, the ATF, the National Security Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, is fully supporting the ongoing investigation.”
