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Orlando Shooting: Man Steps Forward As Omar Mateen’s Former Lover, Says Act Of Violence Fueled By Revenge Against Latinos

By Jean Mendoza
Published on: 00:42 PST, Jun 22, 2016

It has been more than a week since the Orlando nightclub shooting where Omar Mateen, 29, killed 49 people and injured more than four dozen others at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Mateen was killed by the Orlando police after a standoff.

Many say that Omar Mateen’s attack was an act of terrorism, but now a man claiming to be Omar Mateen’s former lover is speaking out to say that what Mateen did was revenge.

The man, only known as Miguel, spoke with Univision Noticas on the condition of anonymity to share what he thinks motivated Omar Mateen to go on a rampage.

Several witnesses came forward with information that Omar Mateen was a regular at Pulse nightclub, which was frequented by gays. On the night of the shooting, the nightclub hosted Latin Night, and many of the clubgoers were Hispanics.

According to Miguel, he met Omar Mateen on the dating app Grindr and described his relationship with the shooter as “friends with benefits.” Miguel alleges that his relationship with Mateen lasted for two months and they would usually meet up in an Orlando hotel.

During the interview, as reported by CBS News, Miguel said that he believes that the Orlando shooting was not an act of terrorism. Instead, he said that Omar Mateen was motivated by revenge.

Miguel explained that Omar Mateen had been with two Puerto Rican men in a threesome and that one of the two men, he later learned, had tested positive for HIV.

“He hate gay Puerto Ricans for all the stuff he did to him. I believe this crazy horrible thing he did was for revenge.”

Miguel said that Omar Mateen was tested for HIV and the results came out negative, but Mateen felt that not too much time had passed since his sexual relations with the HIV-positive man, so he felt that the result was not accurate.

Miguel also recalled his first date with Mateen at a bar called Parliament. After that, the two met about 15 to 20 times at the Ambassador hotel between October and December 2015. According to Univision, as reported by Daily Mail, someone from the hotel confirmed that Mateen stayed at the hotel at least 63 times in 2015 alone.

Omar Mateen’s lover also shared an incident that happened wherein Mateen got angry at him for trying to take a selfie with him while they were in bed together. It was then that Mateen revealed to Miguel that he was married, but he assured his lover that his wife knew about his activities.

In addition, Miguel also said that he and Mateen talked about religion.

“He said Muslim religion is beautiful, beautiful religion, where everything is about love. Everybody is welcome. Gay, trans, bisexual everybody. He was looking for love. He was looking to be embraced.”

Miguel revealed that Mateen loved Latinos, but he only felt rejection and betrayal from them.

“He felt used by them — there were moments in the Pusle nightclub that made him feel really bad. Guys used him. That really affected him.”

A report from CBS Local states that the FBI already interviewed Miguel three times. Although Miguel believes that Omar Mateen carried out the shooting for revenge, Mateen pledged his loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq during 911 calls and posts on Facebook. The FBI had investigated Omar Mateen for the possibility of his ties to terrorism, but the investigation was stopped because they could not find enough evidence against him.

[Image via FBI]

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