The father of the Pulse nightclub shooter was an FBI informant

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 26 March 2018

The father of the Pulse nightclub shooter was a confidential FBI informant for over a decade, new documents reviewed by CBS News affiliate WKMG allege. Seddique Mateen served as a U.S. government intelligence source between 2005 and 2016. His son, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old Islamic State sympathizer, killed 49 people and injured 68 others in Orlando in 2016, before being shot and killed by police.

The information about the elder Mateen was included in a demand for a mistrial filed by the attorneys of Omar Mateen's widow, Noor Salman. Salman is charged with aiding and abetting her husband, obstruction of justice, and lying to prosecutors. "Salman's attorneys claim the late disclosure of the information [by the government] prevented them from exploring whether or not Seddique Mateen knew of his son's plans to attack the nightclub on June 12, 2016," explains WKMG.

Additionally, the document states that in 2012, "an anonymous tip indicated that Seddique Mateen was seeking to raise $50,000 to $100,000 via a donation drive to contribute toward an attack against the government of Pakistan." The defense further alleges that Salman was denied a polygraph test potentially "based on the FBI's desire to implicate Noor Salman, rather than Seddique Mateen, in order to avoid scrutiny of its own ineptitude with the latter."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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