what clubs are popping and things of that sort and what are good places to go,” West said. “When he first contacted me, he was asking. “He would try to meet people and try to bump up against people and put his arm around and maybe try to dance with them or something, because that’s what everybody tries to do,” Van Horn said.Īnother Florida man, Kevin West, told ABC News’ Houston affiliate, KTRK, that he was contacted by Mateen on a gay dating app. “You would be my kind of guy,” the classmate said Mateen told him.Įmployees and patrons at Pulse told ABC News that Mateen went to the bar on a regular basis.Ĭhris Callen, a performer at the club, said Mateen “didn’t seem homophobic to me.”
One night, he said, Mateen asked him if he was gay. FBI agents are hearing accounts of Omar Mateen’s presence at gay clubs going back years.Ī former classmate at a police academy - who requested he not be identified - told ABC News that Mateen hung out with him and others, frequenting Florida gay bars while they were at the Indian River State College training program, as far back as 2006.
