ORLANDO – Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people inside a gay nightclub early Sunday morning, was gay, both his ex-wife and a former classmate have reportedly claimed. 

Frequenters at Pulse, the gay night club he committed the mass shooting, have also claimed to have seen him at the venue before. Others also recognized him off a gay dating app. 

A former classmate of Mateen at the Indian River Community College police academy, said they had went out on a date in 2006. 

“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” he said.

He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him.

“He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,” he said. “He was always socially awkward.”

Mateen was married at least once, to a woman named Sitora Yusufiy, who said Sunday that he was unstable and abusive during their brief marriage. 

Yusufiy, who is now dating a Brazilian man, also sat for an interview with Brazilian TV Monday. 

Speaking in Portuguese, her boyfriend said in the interview that she had described Mateen as having “gay tendencies” and said his dad had called him gay in front of her on several occasions.

The boyfriend also said Yusufiy told the FBI her ex-husband was unstable and that she did not believe he was part of a terrorist group.

“The FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media,” he claimed.

Their accounts echoed others who came forward Monday saying Mateen was part of the gay scene. 

Mateen was a regular at Pulse, as often as twice a month. 

While he was there, he spoke of a wife and children and would often get so drunk he had to be escorted out of the club.

“He’s been going to this bar for at least three years,” Pulse performer Chris Callen told the Canadian Press.

Mateen also reportedly chatted with gay man online. One man, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times  tells the Los Angeles Times he talked with Mateen over the gay dating app Jack’d on and off for about a year. 

He said the two never met in person, but believes they passed each other on the street outside Pulse the night of the shooting.

Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen,  told the Palm Beach Post his son was not gay.