Omar Mateen Identified As Orlando Club Shooter | HuffPost Latest News

Omar Mateen a man who had been on the FBI s radar twice has been identified by officials as the gunman who killed 50 people and left at least 53 injured at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday.

Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen born in New York, acted alone and very quickly when he opened fire with a weapon officials described as an assault rifle.

Suspect identified as Omar Mateen, 29. An American citizen born in New York. @FBI first became aware of him in 2013 pic.twitter.com/gt18lhTM4G

Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Orlando Police","author_url":"https://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice","cache_age":86400,"description":"Suspect identified as Omar Mateen, 29. 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Suspect identified as Omar Mateen, 29. An American citizen born in New York. @FBI first became aware of him in 2013 pic.twitter.com/gt18lhTM4G
Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 12, 2016

About 20 minutes before the killings, Mateen called 911 to pledge his allegiance to ISIS . He gave his full name to the operator, and mentioned the Boston bombers, according to multiple sources who spoke to law enforcement.

Mateen had purchased a "long gun" and a handgun within a week of the Orlando attack, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said. The weapons were purchased legally, despite Mateen being investigated for possible terrorist ties several years ago.

The FBI first became aware of Mateen in 2013, when he made threats to co-workers, "including possible ties to terrorist activities," an FBI spokesman said Sunday.

One of those co-workers, Daniel Gilroy, who worked with Mateen as a security guard, said he "complained multiple times that he was dangerous ." Mateen showed anger toward black people, gay people, Jewish people and women, Gilroy told the LA Times.

"You meet bigots," Gilroy told the publication. "But he was above and beyond. He was always angry, sweating, just angry at the world."

Mateen was again investigated by the FBI in 2014, over possible ties to American suicide bomber Moner Mohammad Abusalha , the agency said.

Abusalha -- who lived Fort Pierce, Florida, as did Mateen -- was the first American to carry out a suicide attack in Syria. Mateen's contact with Abusalha was deemed "minimal" and did not pose a threat at the time, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper.

All FBI investigations of Mateen were eventually closed.

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