Worshippers listen as Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce offers a prayer for victims of the Orlando shooting. —Reuters
“I don't know what, why he did it, but it's unforgiven to hurt their own family, we live in the United States as a family,” he said.
Mateen said his thoughts are with the victims, and also with his three-year-old grandson.
“He destroyed almost the whole family,” he said.
Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Zahi Salman, went to the family's apartment late Monday to retrieve some belongings.
In this low-rent apartment complex, brightened by the glittering sun and palm trees, few knew Mateen, except by sight.
“He didn't talk to anybody, to my knowledge. He was just passing,” said Herbert Johnson, a resident of the Woodlawn Condominium.
Mateen's psychological state remains a mystery, as was the nature of his connection to homosexuality.
Several witnesses have described him as a young man who used gay dating apps, who had made advances to another man and was a regular at Pulse.
But he was totally unknown at Tattle Tails, one of the few gay bars in the St Lucie and Fort Pierce area, adjoining cities on Florida's Atlantic coast.
Patrick, a bartender at Tattle Tails who did not want to give his full name, said he had never seen Mateen in his 10 years as a patron and employee of the bar.
The bar's owner and other servers didn't remember having crossed paths with Mateen either, he said.
In fact, Patrick said he could not remember a customer who had said they were Muslim.
The Orlando massacre exposed, tragically for families who were learning for the first time the sexual orientation of their deceased loved ones, that gays are not always accepted in the Hispanic community.
But among Muslims, the taboo is often even more pronounced.
While he expressed solidarity with the victims, Seddique Mateen publicly condemned homosexuality.
At the Islamic Center, Bakht considered the question. "Gay Muslims? I haven't met any. Maybe they're hiding."