News

Woman says Orlando gunman stalked her; records show Mateen talked sex, violence at young age

Orlando Police Chief John Mina took a break from the most horrific crime scene he's ever investigated: the Pulse nightclub shooting scene in Orlando. 
Watch a replay of "Stories of Orlando Strong" here. The 30-minute special that aired on WFTV Channel 9 looked back at the shooting tragedy, stories of hope and survival, and how our communities have pulled together to heal.
“It's been a long week, but it's part of the job,” Mina said. “Our officers are holding up as well as can be expected. We've provided them with counseling and stress management. They had the opportunity to talk amongst their peers and get their feelings out. It's a very traumatic event for them.”
As early as the third grade, the Orlando nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen, talked frequently about sex and violence, and before finishing high school, he was suspended for a total of 48 days, including suspensions for fighting and hurting classmates, school records showed.
In the years since, other people reported having disturbing run-ins with Mateen, including a bartender who said he stalked her nearly a decade ago and sent so many uncomfortable Facebook messages that she blocked him on the social network.
"He was one of those guys who wouldn't leave me alone," Heather LaSalla told an Associated Press reporter in an interview Friday in the doorway of her home. She worked at a bar in Port St. Lucie at the time, and Mateen started coming there, mostly by himself.
"He was always, like, a loner," LaSalla said.
The tone of Mateen's Facebook messages made LaSalla uncomfortable, she said, but she never filed a criminal complaint.
She ran into him again at a park in November while she was with her young son and Mateen was with his, she said.
"He still had that weird vibe to him," LaSalla said, but she did not feel threatened as Mateen told her had a wife and talked about his son's soccer league.
In the aftermath of the shooting, she said, she recognized Mateen immediately from his picture on television.
When asked whether she believed Mateen was gay, LaSalla said she "never noticed." She said he never exactly propositioned her in his messages. 
A person familiar with the FBI's investigation of Mateen said his wife sent him a text message on the night of the shooting, asking Mateen where he was and telling him she loved him. 

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — %

INLINE

%

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the probe and spoke Friday on condition of anonymity.
The timing of the texts, which are part of the FBI's investigation, was not immediately clear. Other media outlets, citing anonymous sources, have reported the couple exchanged texts during the rampage and hostage situation.
The FBI has been investigating how much Noor Salman knew about the plot. 

%

INLINE

%

The gunman called 911 and a television station and posted to Facebook during the siege.

Background on Mateen:

Mateen enrolled in Florida public schools after his Afghan immigrant parents moved in 1991 from New York City to Port Saint Lucie, on Florida's Atlantic coast.
Teachers "couldn't seem to help him," said Dan Alley, retired dean of Martin County High School. "We tried to counsel him and show him the error of his ways, but it never had the effect that we were hoping for."
At least some of the suspensions were for fights that involved injuries. Others were for unspecified rules violations, according to the records.
For elementary and early middle school, he attended class in neighboring St. Lucie County, where teachers said he was disruptive and struggled academically.
A third-grade teacher wrote that Mateen was "very active ... constantly moving, verbally abusive, rude, and and aggressive." The teacher described "much talk about violence and sex," with Mateen's "hands all over the place -- on other children, in his mouth."
In seventh grade, school administrators moved Mateen to another class to "avoid conflicts with other students." That same report said Mateen was doing poorly in several subjects because of "many instances of behavioral problems."
In a 1999 letter to Mateen's father, one of his middle school teachers wrote that the boy's "attitude and inability to show self-control in the classroom create distractions and become a main source of difficulty for him."
"Unfortunately, Omar has great difficulty focusing on his classwork since he often seeks the attention of his classmates through some sort of noise, disruption or distraction," the letter said.
Mateen attended high school and part of middle school in Martin County, spending time on three campuses in all, including one alternative facility.
He withdrew from Martin County High School in 2003 and eventually graduated from Stuart Adult Community High School with a standard diploma, records show.
In 10th grade, he received a five-day suspension on Sept. 13, 2001 -- two days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The records offer no details except to call it a "rule violation." But in recent media reports, classmates have said it was because he celebrated the attacks.
Alley said Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, was an enabler.
"He would not back up the school, and he would always take his son's side," Alley said.
Mateen's father has suggested his son had anti-gay feelings after recently seeing two men kiss. But others have said he was a regular at the Orlando club and that he tried to pick up men there.
After high school, Mateen attended Indian River Community College, graduating in 2006 with a degree in criminal justice technology.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Cox Media Group

Most Read