As more details on the life of Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen surface, it becomes crystal clear that this man was violent and hateful. In the weeks leading up to the Pulse nightclub shooting, he was reported for suspicious behavior. He told co-workers he had terrorist ties. His wife knew the attack was coming beforehand.
Which just leaves many Americans wondering…..how did nobody stop this guy?
The Wall Street Journal reports:
At age 14, he said he could shoot an AK-47 and mimicked an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. At 26, he bragged to courthouse co-workers of terrorist ties. Weeks ago, at 29, Mateen sought to buy heavy-duty body armor and bulk ammunition. Many of his violent outbursts aped or celebrated Islamic terrorism and he repeatedly claimed connections to known terrorists, including the Boston Marathon bombers. He cheered the 9/11 attacks on the day they happened and once threatened to shoot partygoers at a barbecue when pork, which is forbidden to Muslims, touched his hamburger.
…Grandiose boasts about terrorist ties, when he was 26, put Mateen on the FBI’s radar. He was starting to spook co-workers at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, where he was a security guard. Colleagues reported Mateen was bragging about knowing people in al Qaeda and claiming he was a Hezbollah member. He told co-workers he knew associates of the Tsarnaev brothers, who had bombed the Boston Marathon that year, according to the complaints. And he said he hoped police would raid his home and mistreat his family so he could become a “martyr,” officials said.
While it’s still not clear what his motivations were, or how exactly he fell through the cracks, the WSJ did shed some light on how Mateen evaded authorities:
Mateen’s story cuts to the heart of the worst scenario for domestic law enforcement and policy makers. While he hadn’t committed a crime as an adult, his record was replete with incidents that troubled those around him.
… After each disturbing eruption of anger, Mateen always danced just out of reach of those who could have stopped him. He hopped from school to school, job to job. Paper records were drawn up, notice was taken but little seemed to follow him.
The warning signs were there. Tragically, nobody took action.
