At least 50 people are dead in Orlando after a shooter attacked a gay nightclub there early Sunday morning.
Authorities said the suspected shooter,Omar Mateen, was born in New York. WNYC has learned the family moved to Westbury on Long Island from Afghanistan in the 1980s to flee civil war.
A neighbor — who said she knew the Mateens at the time — said the parents were devoted to their children, and even whether they couldn't provide for Omar and his siblings."He could've been possibly 4 when he was here," she said. "And I remember the children were so hungry, I used to give them food because they didn't have enough money to buy food."The neighbor spoke to WNYC on the condition of anonymity. She lives on the same street in Westbury, and where WNYC has learned from public records that Omar Mateen's father had a listed address."[Omar] would bellow all the time,he was very nervous," she said. "I remember [his mother] had a very tough time, or she used to slap him all the time because he never used to listen," she said.
Source: wnyc.org