Washington: The ex-wife of the 29-year-old Omar Mateen suspected of killing 50 people in a Orlando nightclub early Sunday said that he was violent and was emotionally unstable and suffered from mental illness and beat her repeatedly while they were married.
Omar Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, met him online about 8 years ago and decided to move to Florida and marry him.
At first, the marriage was normal but then he became abusive, she said,.
“He was not a stable person.” He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.”
Sitora described him as a “private person” but said he was not especially expressive about his Muslim faith.
In a separate interview with The Washington Post, Ms Yusufiy said Mateen was violently abusive.
Authorities think he used those weapons to kill 50 people and injure dozens more in the attack on the gay nightclub that began just after 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Mateen was killed in a shootout with police three hours later after a SWAT team assaulted a section of the club where Mateen was holed up with hostages.
Mateen’s ex-wife said his family was from Afghanistan, but her ex-husband was born in New York. His family later moved to Florida. In a series of Myspace photos, Mateen is seen taking selfies and wearing New York Police Department shirts in a couple of the shots. His ex-wife identified him as the man in the Myspace photos.
Mateen’s ex-wife said she was having a difficult time when she first met him and decided to move to Florida to be with him. The two married in March 2009 and moved into a 2-bedroom condominium in Fort Pierce, Florida, that Mateen’s family owned.
The ex-wife said her parents intervened when they learned Mateen has assaulted her. Her father confirmed the account and said that the marriage lasted only a few months.
Her parents flew down to Fort Pierce and pulled her out of the house, leaving all her belongings behind. The ex-wife she said never had contact with Mateen again despite attempts by him to reach her.
“They literally saved my life,” she said of her parents.
According to Florida court records, the two formally divorced in 2011.
After learning about what happened in Orlando, she said: “I am still processing. I am definitely lucky.”