Orlando shooter’s father: ‘Up to God to punish homosexuals’

The father of the US-born shooter who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday voiced sadness that his son took it upon himself to attack the gay community, saying it was “up to God to punish homosexuals.”

In a video posted on Facebook early Monday, Seddique Mateen said he was grieved by the rampage at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, calling the 29-year-old killer, Omar Mateen, a “good and educated son.”

“I am deeply saddened and have announced this to the people of America,” Seddique said in the three-minute video in the Dari language, voicing disbelief that his son carried out the killings during the holy month of Ramadan.

“It is up to God to punish homosexuals. It is not up to servants,” the US resident added, sitting before a flag of his home country Afghanistan.

The assault, the worst mass shooting in modern US history, has triggered an outpouring of grief but also defiance in the gay and lesbian community.

Officials say that families of 24 of the victims have been notified. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer described the progress at a Monday morning news conference. He said that by 11 p.m. Sunday, all bodies of victims had been turned over to the medical examiner.

The father is a minor celebrity in Afghan political circles in the US, hosting an occasional television show in which he expresses hardline views — dressed sometimes in a pinstripe suit and other times in military fatigues.

In the “Durand Jirga Show” available on YouTube, he rails against the Pakistani government and announces a quixotic bid to seek the Afghan presidency.

Sitting like a statesman with an Afghan flag in the background, he lauds the Taliban as his “warrior brothers” in one of the videos.

“The Taliban are 100% Afghan,” said a large yellow signboard he held up in a picture he posted on social media.

But his sympathy for the militant group appears confused at best, as he pillories Taliban leaders in various Facebook posts for alleged links with the Pakistani military establishment.

Officials in Afghanistan sought to distance themselves from the family, saying they did not know when exactly Seddique had left the conflict-torn country.

“All we can say is that he (Mateen) is a US citizen of Afghan origin. He had been living in the US for decades, and that is all we know from the media,” a foreign ministry official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

A senior Taliban source on the border dismissed any association with the family, pointing out that Omar Mateen was born, lived and worked in the US.

“I don’t even consider him a jihadi,” the source said.

The FBI has admitted that Omar Mateen — who was born to Afghan parents in New York — had previously been investigated, but cleared, over alleged ties to a man who became the first American to carry out a suicide bombing in Syria.

The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying in a radio bulletin that it was carried out by “one of the soldiers of the caliphate.”

Also Monday, Orlando police said they had blasted through the wall of the nightclub during the attack early Sunday because they feared further loss of life, the city’s police chief said.

US investigators are still trying to determine why the gunman, Omar Seddique Mateen, opened fire in a hate-fueled rampage.

Mateen was reported to have made a 911 call pledging allegiance to IS shortly before the massacre, the FBI said.

Orlando police chief John Mina said he made the difficult decision to burst into the club after Mateen — who was holed up in the club with hostages and was in contact with police — made comments about “bomb vests, about explosives.”

“We believed that further loss of life was imminent,” Mina told reporters at a morning press conference.

“We knew that was the right thing to do and believe we prevented a future loss of life and saved many, many lives.”

Police used explosives and then an armored vehicle to punch a hole in the wall of the club in Orlando, the city in central Florida that is home to Walt Disney World and other amusement parks.

Authorities revised down the death toll on Monday from 50 to 49, explaining that Mateen was initially counted among the dead. More than 50 people were wounded in the shooting.

“We don’t include the shooter as a victim,” FBI special agent Paul Wysopal said, adding that the families of about half of the victims have been notified.

World leaders joined in condemning the murderous assault, which triggered grief and shock but also defiance in the gay and lesbian community as monuments from New York to Paris were being lit up in memory of the victims.

“We know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” US President Barack Obama said.

The Orlando assault is the worst act of terror on US soil since the September 11, 2001, attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda.

“We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater. We will be defined by how we respond, how we treat each other,” Orlando Mayor Dyer said.