Orlando Massacre: FBI and Obama Confirm Mateen Was Radicalized Online

The latest official reports confirmed that 49 people were killed and 53 injured during the attack on the Pulse club in Orlando. 6 people have already been released from the hospital, while 5 are in very serious condition, writes the British Guardian, reports NAP.

There are suspicions that the armed attacker Omar Mateen, who carried out the attack on the Pulse club, was inspired by a "foreign terrorist organization", but there is still no evidence of his connection to a foreign network.

US President Barack Obama and the head of the FBI confirmed that the perpetrator of the attack was strongly radicalized via the internet.

In his address to reporters after a meeting of security officials, President Obama said that Omar Mateen was "inspired by various extremist information disseminated online".

The President's statement came shortly after James Comey, the director of the FBI, who is leading the investigation into the Florida attack, said there were "strong indications of the radicalization of this killer, as well as potential inspiration from foreign terrorist organizations".

Comey added that he was "very confident" that Mateen was radicalized online. Along with Obama, he emphasized that there is still no evidence that the attacker acted on the directive or plan of any foreign group or network.

- There is no evidence that he was controlled from outside, Obama said.

New evidence that the killer was radicalized online, along with the absence of links to organized terrorism and his strong hatred towards the gay community, form a toxic combination that is already breaking through the presidential election debate.

The strong emotions caused by the bloody act of violence, combined with relaxed gun ownership laws in Florida, and the attacker's mention of ISIL during the attack itself, threaten to steer the presidential election in an unpredictable direction.

President Obama is trying to maintain composure after being attacked because he refused to identify the massacre solely as terrorism or a gun control issue.

- It is both, the US President said.

The President warned against entering into a debate, emphasizing that both access to weapons and terrorism are factors that require equal attention.

- If we have self-radicalized individuals in the country, it will be very difficult to locate them in the future, and the ease with which they obtain weapons will in some cases make a difference in whether they can carry out an attack like this, the President explained.

Hillary Clinton addressed the Orlando massacre yesterday, emphasizing the need to reintroduce a ban on gun ownership, which was one of the pillars of her husband Bill Clinton's administration in the 90s. The law banning weapons like the AR-15, used in many bloody and mass recent killings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook case where 20 children and their teachers were killed in Connecticut, expired 10 years after it was passed.  

Mateen used a similar weapon in the attack on the Pulse club, along with a Glock semi-automatic pistol.

Clinton said that Mateen used "weapons of war" legally purchased in Florida sometime last week, despite the fact that the attacker was already on the FBI's counter-terrorism "radar" - "to kill 50 innocent Americans." Criticizing the lobby that supports gun ownership rights, Clinton stated:

- I deeply believe that real gun control reform across the country would make a difference.

Potential Republican candidate Donald Trump immediately presented his highly polarizing stance on the Pulse club tragedy, which further widened the existing huge gap between the two candidates in the presidential race. In one of his social media posts, a few hours after the attack, he congratulated himself for proposing to ban all Muslims from entering the US, and criticized the Muslim community in America for not reporting potential terrorists like Mateen, whom he called a "madman".

- They knew this guy had the potential to blow himself up. They don't report them. For some reason, the Muslim community doesn't report people like this, Trump told CNN.

Trump then took the opportunity in a speech he gave in New Hampshire to propose a referendum on "radical Islam." The potential candidate stated at the time:

- This is not a national security issue, this is a quality of life issue. We need the whole truth about how radical Islam is reaching our shores, and it is coming, with people like this - it is coming, Trump said.

A witness to the events in the club stated that the killer was laughing while killing people in a bathroom full of victims.

Deyni Ventura, a priest living near Sanford and a friend of the mother of one of the young men from the club, described what she was told.

- He was laughing hysterically, ha ha ha ha ha, while firing bursts at people, she said.

Ventura said that Norman, the son of her friend Vanessa, whom she decided to identify only by his first name, sustained four gunshot wounds but is expected to be released from the hospital on Tuesday.

- He was in the bathroom with 30 other people and all those people were killed. He is the only survivor, Ventura added. While laughing, he took the weapon and started firing bursts at the compartments in the bathroom, at the lower part, then at the top, so that bodies started falling and blood was splashing everywhere, with 30 people squeezed into one place. He was laughing at the victims.

FBI Findings

During a briefing in Washington, the FBI director presented additional details of the attacker's sympathy for ISIL, which he showed during the three-hour bloodbath in the club. On Sunday at 2:30 AM, half an hour after the attack began, Mateen called 911 three times, stating that he was acting on behalf of the leader of ISIL.

The killer also declared his solidarity with the Tsarnaev brothers who carried out the bombing attack on the Boston Marathon in 2013, as well as with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American of Palestinian descent who prayed in the same mosque as Mateen, in Fort Pierre, Florida, and who carried out a suicide attack in Syria in May 2014.

Comey said these different connections are confusing because the Tsarnaevs are not connected to ISIL, while Abu-Salha worked with the Al-Nusra Front, which was in conflict with the terrorist group.

- It is confusing when it comes to motives, said the FBI director.

The FBI itself is under pressure due to the fact that they had Mateen on record, given that they had questioned him 3 times in 2013 and 2014 due to suspicions of extremism and connections with Abu-Salha. Both times, the information they received was considered insufficient to warrant further action.   

At the time, Mateen assured them that what he had said in 2013 stemmed from anger at colleagues who had provoked him because he was Muslim.

Victim Origins

Most of the victims are of Latin American origin, mainly from Orlando's growing Puerto Rican population.

President Obama said that what should not be overlooked is that the killer targeted a gay club. Groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda use their "twisted Islam" to "target homosexuals and lesbians because they believe they do not respect their views on sexuality.".

- There is a clear connection between the views of such organizations and views on tolerance and that all people should be treated equally regardless of their sexual orientation, the US President emphasized.