As details continue to emerge about the shooting in Orlando that killed at least 50 and injured many, many others, people are looking for answers in the history of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who committed the heinous crime—in the name of ISIS. The Washington Post spoke with the man’s ex-wife, who revealed that he seemed “normal” and was a “very private person”—and that he was often violent with her.
The couple originally met online about eight years ago. Mateen grew up in New York, but had moved down to Florida, where his ex-wife—who spoke to the publication anonymously in fear of her safety—eventually moved in order to marry him in March 2009. “He seemed like a normal human being,” she said, explaining that the marriage began as anybody would expect, before turning abusive. During their time together, she noted that he was not very religious, and she saw no indication that he was falling under the influence of radical Islam.
“He was not a stable person,” she revealed of their marriage as it progressed. “He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.”
Once her parents realized she’d been assaulted by her husband, they flew down to Florida to remove her from her home. The marriage only lasted a few months. “They literally saved my life,” she said, adding that in light of the tragedy in Orlando, she was still processing—but definitely considered herself to be “lucky.”