Mateen had become radicalized to some extent online, at least half a dozen men have come forward with claims that hint at another potential motive, reporting that they had seen Mr. Mateen barged into the Pulse nightclub on June 12 and opened fire on the crowd, leaving 49 people dead and another 53 wounded, investigators are still trying to determine the underlying motive for the slaughter.
Mateen had used Adam4Adam and other dating sites and apps for gay men. “I think it was a hoax,” David Lesage, a spokesman for the Montreal-based company, said about the reports that Mr. Mateen over the years that the company said had been provided by the F.B.I. In an attempt to find an account connected to the killer, the site, Adam4Adam combed through the profile photos of every one of its 300,000 Florida members and researched 20 email addresses used by Mr.
After news media reports suggested that the man who carried out the massacre at a gay nightclub here may have himself been gay, the company that bills itself as “the world’s largest gay hookup site” put out what amounted to a distress call, asking members who may have been in contact with the gunman, Omar Mateen, to come forward.
