FBI's first probe of nightclub shooter was spurred by his remarks while working courthouse security
The FBI opened its first probe of Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen in 2013 because of complaints about his remarks while working in security at a courthouse in St. Lucie County, Florida, according to the county sheriff.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said he asked the FBI to investigate after Mateen was accused of making racist comments, WPTV reports. The complaints were made by deputies and by Mateen’s co-workers at the firm hired to provide the security, G4S.
Those who complained said Mateen made “derogatory comments about women, about Jews, and referenced, on occasion, that the Fort Hood shooter was justified in his actions because he was aware that the person was picked on by other Army personnel,” Mascara told WPTV.
G4S transferred Mateen from the courthouse job after a request by the county. He remained employed at the security company and was working at the gated community PGA Village before killing 49 people in the Pulse nightclub attack, TCPalm reports. He did not carry a gun in the PGA Village job, according to the Guardian.
Before his courthouse job, which began in 2012, Mateen worked as a guard at the St. Lucie juvenile assessment center through a G4S contract. Before that, from October 2006 to April 2007, Mateen worked for the state as a prison guard at the Martin Correctional Institution, TCPalm reports in another story.
G4S checked Mateen’s background and gave him a psychological evaluation when he began work at the company in September 2007. The company did not give him another psychological evaluation after he was interviewed by the FBI, though it did run a new criminal background check when he was moved to the new job, according to the Guardian and Reuters.
Both Reuters and the Guardian say G4S learned the FBI questioned Mateen in 2013. The company was unaware of the second FBI interview, according to Reuters. The FBI determined Mateen was not a security threat.
A G4S spokesman told the Guardian that its two screenings of Mateen found “no adverse findings.” The G4S spokesman also said the company was not aware the FBI had interviewed Mateen when it ran the second background check.
G4S also supplied security at a St. Lucie nuclear power plant, but Mateen never worked there.
