Source: BBC
The father of a gunman who killed dozens of people in an Orlando gay club says he did not know that his son had a “grudge in his heart”.
Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history, before being shot dead by police.
Seddique Mateen said he did not understand why his son had carried out the shooting at the Pulse nightclub.
The so-called Islamic State group (IS) called Omar Mateen one of its soldiers.
In a statement posted online and addressed to people in his native Afghanistan, Seddique Mateen said his son had been “a very good boy”, who had a wife and a child.
“I don’t know what caused it,” he said. “I never figured out that he had a grudge in his heart… I am grief-stricken.”
He added he did not know why his son had committed such an act during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, adding that the fate of gay people was “not in the hands of humans” as it was, he said, only God who could judge.
IS had called for attacks on the West during Ramadan.
On Sunday, Seddique Mateen said: “We are apologising for the whole incident. We are in shock, like the whole country.”
He said his son had been angered after seeing two men kissing in Miami.
The attack began at about 02:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday. There was an exchange of fire with a police officer working at the club, after which the suspect took hostages.
At 05:00 a police assault team went into the club after police received text messages and phone calls from some of the hostages. Mateen was killed in an exchange of fire.
States of emergency have been declared in the city of Orlando and surrounding Orange County.
Categories: Canada, Hate Crime, The Muslim Times, USA