A man who says he was the former lover of the Pulse nightclub shooter tells Univision News that Omar Mateen was acting out of revenge when he killed 49 people and put many more patrons of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender nightclub in the hospital.
“The thing that makes me want to tell the truth is that he didn’t do it for terrorism. In my opinion he did it for revenge,” said a man identified simply as “Miguel.”
The man, who lived in Orlando until December, wore a disguise for the exclusive interview with Univision News anchor Maria Elena Salinas.
Miguel said in the interview:
* He met Mateen on the gay dating app Grindr and described their relationship as “friends with benefits.”
* They got together at least 15 times during the two-month relationship, which ended in December when Miguel left Orlando.
* Mateen was “terrified” of being HIV positive and felt rage toward Puerto Rican gay men possibly because of a sexual incident. Mateen had sex with two Puerto Rican men, and one later said he was HIV positive, Miguel said.
“He adored Latinos, gay Latinos, with brown skin — but he felt rejected,” Miguel told Univision. “He felt used by them — there were moments in the Pulse nightclub that made him feel really bad. Guys used him. That really affected him.”
Miguel recalled a conversation with Mateen. “When I asked him what he was going to do now, his answer was ‘I’m going to make them pay for what they did to me,'” he told Univision.
The FBI confirmed that it had interviewed Miguel, Univision said.
Sitora Yusufiy, Mateen’s former wife, has suggested he might have been gay. In an interview with Time, she said: “He might have been homosexual himself and lived that lifestyle but could never ever come clean about it because of the standards of his father, because of the obligation to be a perfect son.”
