After Omar Mateen tried to purchase body armor and bulk ammunition, the co-owner of a Florida gun store says his employees contacted the FBI to report the suspicious encounter.
Co-owner of Lotus Gunworks, Robbie Abell, said in a statement Thursday that his employees were very suspicious of Mateen when he visited their store four to five weeks prior to the shooting.
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According to Abell, Mateen requested level 3 body armor, but Abell’s store did not carry it. Mateen reportedly then made a phone call speaking in Arabic before requesting bulk ammunition. Abell’s employees refused to sell anything to him as they had a “gut feeling” about Mateen being a potential threat.
After Mateen left the store, Abell and his employees “contacted the FBI direct.” Abell did not elaborate on how the authorities reacted to the report, but he believes that his store’s employees did what they were supposed to do.
While Abell believes his employees contacting the FBI direct, law enforcement officials have not found any evidence that the gun shop contacted the authorities regarding Mateen’s suspicious behavior, according to CBS News.
The shooting took place at Orlando gay nightclub, Pulse, killing 49 people and wounding another 53 others. Mateen was later killed in a shootout by the police.
Mateen was also reportedly posting about the attack on Facebook while it was happening. The post read, “You kill innocent women and children by doing U.S. airstrikes…now taste the Islamic state vengeance [sic]” according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The shooting was the deadliest attack on U.S. soil since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
