FBI did not think Orlando shooter Omar Mateen would ‘go postal’ in 2013

Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded dozens more at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando in June. (Photo: AFP)
Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded dozens more at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando in June. (Photo: AFP)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded years ago that Orlando gay club shooter Omar Mateen was not likely to pose a terrorist threat, according to previously undisclosed documents.

FBI agent Randall Glass reportedly told the St. Lucie County sheriff’s office in Florida that they did not think Mateen — who went on to kill 49 people at the Pulse nightclub last month — “would go postal or anything like that.”

This was revealed in an email that was released Monday, along with a slew of other documents, in response to a June 14 public records request by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

A Sept. 27, 2013, email from former St. Lucie County sheriff’s office Maj. Michael Graves to former director of detention Patrick Tighe contained the following passage:

FBI concluded a several month long thorough investigation of one of our G4S employees, Omar Mateen, who works at the courthouse. Last night, I spoke with FBI SAC Rand Glass who informed me they believe this individual has been making comments about his capabilities via his alleged middle eastern terrorist contacts as a form of tit for tat – who is the biggest and baddest rhetoric. Reportedly, Mateem [sic] told FBI he did this because a deputy who no longer works at the courthouse kept calling him a “towel head.” Mateen denied saying some of the things the FBI knows he did say. If he were smart he should not lie to them about any portion of the investigation (federal offense). They plan to speak to him again regarding his discrepancy.

Rand told me “We do NOT believe he is a terrorist.” Yesterday, the FBI spoke with him in person and reportedly Mateen became very upset that someone contacted the FBI. Regarding this demeanor, Rand said, “I don’t believe he will go postal or anything like that.”

Back in 2013, the St. Lucie County sheriff’s office and the FBI opened the investigation into Mateen after his coworkers at the security firm G4S Secure Solutions reported that he might have ties to Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombers, or Nidal Hasan, who was the Fort Hood, Texas, shooter.

At the time, Mateen repeatedly complained that he had been mocked for being Muslim by colleagues at G4S and by people at the St. Lucie Courthouse, where he worked as a security guard. He told his bosses that he claimed to know these domestic terrorists in response to the alleged taunting, according to the records.

The sheriff’s department told G4S to remove Mateen from his position at the courthouse shortly after the Graves email was sent.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the new documents show that “the FBI blew it.”

“The agency let Mateen off the hook even though he threatened his co-worker and tried to lie to the FBI agents questioning him about terrorist ties,” Fitton said in a news release. “No wonder the FBI reportedly tried to stop Florida law enforcement from responding to freedom of information requests about the Orlando massacre.”