Was the Orlando Gunman Gay? The Answer Continues to Elude the F.B.I.

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.

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. Mateen over the years that the company said had been provided by the F.B.I.

Adam4Adam came up with nothing.

“I think it was a hoax,” David Lesage, a spokesman for the Montreal-based company, said about the reports that Mr. Mateen had used Adam4Adam and other dating sites and apps for gay men.

Two weeks after Mr. Mateen barged into the Pulse nightclub on June 12and 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. Although federal officials have said Mr. 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 at gay clubs, encountered him online or had romantic encounters with him.

Read More- New York Times

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