50 Clubgoers Shot Dead in Orlando Gay Bar Rampage

The ex wife of suspected Orlando gay bar shooter Omar Mateen claims her former spouse beat her during their relationship.

In an interview with the Washington Post in which she remains anonymous, the woman said Mateen was violent and emotionally unstable.


The 29-year-old died Sunday morning after police believe he killed at least

“He was not a stable person,” the ex-wife told the Post. “He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.”

The attack is being called the worst ever mass shooting in America's long history of gun violence.

The ex wife, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for her personal safety, said she married Mateen about eight years ago after meeting him online.

When they first met, “he seemed like a normal human being,” the woman said.

However, after she said violence became the norm in the home, the woman's family flew to Florida to help her get out of their Fort Pierce home.

The woman said she fled with none of her possessions. She said, in the wake of the attack Sunday, that she feels lucky to be alive.

Mateen was born in New York to parents from Afghanistan, the woman said.

Mateen's father discovered son's alleged actions. In an interview with NBC News, the father described an incident in Miami in which his son became enraged after seening two men kiss.

“We were in downtown Miami," Mir Seddique said. “He saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kids and he got very angry. They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.’ And then we were in the men’s bathroom and men were kissing each other.”