Omar Mateen ‘should have been killed before he killed’

Seddique Mateen criticised security at Pulse nightclub in Florida and said the police had taken too long to end the three-hour siege.

“When there is a club, a social club, why doesn’t that social club provide security? The security should have acted better,” he told Washington Correspondent Kylie Morris.

Asked if his son should have been killed before he shot dead 49 people, he said: “Yes, because anybody breaks the law, that person intends to kill other people, they should be killed. It doesn’t matter who.”

Mr Mateen, who is from Afghanistan but lives in the US, added: “Why did the police take so much time? They should have come quick, they should have used gas to just knock him out and get hold of him. This was something that crossed my mind, that it could have been prevented much better.”

Off-duty police officer Adam Gruler exchanged fire with Omar Mateen outside Pulse as the killing spree was beginning, but was forced to call for back-up, sparking the siege.

Act of terror

Seddique Mateen said he accepted his son had been responsible for the deaths and would never forgive him. “I know my son did an act of terror to kill people and I’ll never forgive him. He was 100 per cent wrong.

“I’m very sad and upset and mad about those people that lost their loved ones, the 50 people and also those 52 who got injured. They are my family because this act happened in the United States and we consider each oher like a family, a close family. I was really shocked why Omar did what he did.”

Mr Mateen said he had not known Omar had visited Pulse on previous occasions. “I don’t know anything, this is news to me. I didn’t know about this. I wish I did know his intention, I could have stopped him.”

Referring to his previous comment that Omar had been shocked by the sight of two gay men kissing in Miami, his father said: “He wasn’t shocked, just a normal reaction, just seeing two guys in front of that bunch of kids and a woman, kissing each other. They could have picked another spot, I guess.”

Freedom of choice

Asked if there was anything wrong with two men kissing, he said: “I have no problem or issue with that one. Everybody has his own freedom. The United States is a country where everybody has freedom of choice.”

Mr Mateen was also asked to comment on his remark that it was up to God to decide if people should be punished for their homosexuality. He replied: “What I meant was no human being can judge another human being, so an affair of a person gets judged by the creator. God is the one who knows what to do, to punish or reward someone. So as a human, I have no say. Based on the current situation, everybody has his own freedom of choice.”

He said his son had been “given a gun legally” by the security company he worked for and that it was wrong he had also been able to buy a semi-automatic weapon.

“I’m anti-gun, i’m against anybody getting a gun. Why do you want to get a gun?, I never had one and I would never want to touch a gun.”