Orlando gunman was gay and a 'regular' at Pulse, witnesses say

The gunman in the Orlando massacre who attacked a gay bar and killed 49 on Sunday, June 12 was a homosexual and a "regular" at Pulse, said witnesses.

"He was trying to pick up people. Men," Jim Van Horn, a regular customer at Pulse, told the Associated Press, as reported by The Guardian.

Investigators work the scene following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando Florida, U.S. June 12, 2016. | REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI

"He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men. He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm round them or something...That's what people do at gay bars. That's what we do," Van Horn attested.

Three other regular customers reported seeing the 29-year-old gunman, Oman Mateen, drinking at Pulse on several occasions before. Mateen held the nightclub hostage for three hours at 2 a.m. Sunday until he was killed by the SWAT team who stormed the building with an armored vehicle.

Kevin West, another regular, claimed that Mateen used the gay chat and dating app Jack'd to message him occasionally in the past year.

A former classmate, Samuel King, said that Mateen and most of the gunman's friends were gay.

"He had to know it, but I never got any sense of homophobia or aggression from him," King told Washington Post.

Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy, who described the killer as bipolar, crazy and abusive, also revealed that Mateen once confessed going to clubs and enjoying the nightlife. However, she didn't say whether she thought her ex-husband of four months was a homosexual.

The latest reports on the shooter's homosexuality only make the case more complicated as authorities investigate his motive for the killing.

Although Mateen called 911 before the shooting rampage and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, officials are yet to find indication of ties between Mateen and IS.

Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, who revealed that his son may have been enraged when he saw two men kissing each other, quickly disagreed to the circulating rumors that his son was gay.

"It's not true. Why, if he was gay, would he do this?" he told The Guardian.

"I think it's possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality," Van Horn said, as he tried to comprehend the tragedy that killed three of his friends.

He added, "But if you pretend that you're different, then you may shoot up a gay bar."