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Officials Raid Orlando Shooter Omar Mateen’s Father’s Home: Report

Looking for answers. Officials raided the home of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, on Sunday, June 12, according to TMZ.

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Seddique Mateen
Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen.

Photos obtained by the website show several police officers searching the property and carrying boxes of evidence out of the house. Law enforcement were also seen searching the trunk of his Mercedes and speaking with Seddique, according to TMZ.

Seddique Mateen
Seddique Mateen’s home

Omar was the gunman who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The 29-year-old killed at least 49 and injured 53 when he stormed into Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday, June 12, with an assault rifle, a handgun and another device. Police shot and killed Omar after a three-hour standoff, during which he held innocent clubgoers hostage.

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Seddique Mateen
Seddique Mateen’s home

In a video posted on Facebook on Monday, June 13, Seddique made homophobic comments. “God will punish those involved in homosexuality,” he said, adding that it’s “not an issue that humans should deal with.” The elder Mateen has since walked back his comments.

“He doesn’t have the right, nobody has the right to harm anything, anybody,” Seddique told CBS News Monday. “What a person’s lifestyle is, is up to him. It’s a free country. Everybody has their own choice to live the way they want to live.”

According to previous reports, Seddique claimed Omar was infuriated when he saw two men kissing in Miami a few months ago.

Omar Mateen
Omar Mateen

Seddique, who was born in Afghanistan and later immigrated to the United States, where his three children, including Omar, were born, denied claims that Omar was radicalized. “He surprised me because I didn’t see anything irregular with him. I saw him yesterday afternoon. Everything was normal,” he told ABC News on Sunday, June 12. “I don’t think he was radicalized. That’s what my gut feeling tells me.”

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As Us Weekly previously reported, Omar reportedly called 911 and pledged his allegiance to ISIS and praised the Boston Marathon bombers prior to committing the awful crime. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it “was carried out by an Islamic State fighter” in a statement to Reuters on Sunday. President Barack Obama told reporters the incident was “an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been concerned about.” 

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