Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gun Shop Reported ‘Suspicious’ Omar Mateen to Authorities
Breitbart ^ | June 16, 2016 | FRANCES MARTEL

Posted on 06/16/2016 11:42:58 AM PDT by maggief

Robbie Abell, owner of a Florida gun shop, says he alerted authorities that a suspicious man had come in asking about body armor. Five weeks later, Omar Mateen – equipped with weapons he bought at a different shop after Abell’s employees refused to sell to him – killed 49 people and injured as many at Pulse night club in Orlando. The Wall Street Journal quotes Abell as telling them that his store, Lotus Gunworks of South Florida, “shut him down on all sales” after be began asking bizarre questions about body armor and bulk ammunition. “The questions he was asking were not the normal questions a normal person would be asking… He just seemed very odd,” Abell said. The armor Mateen asked about is not traditionally available to civilians.

Abell noted that he made a phone call during his time in the store, and appeared to be speaking in Arabic. Mateen is from an Afghan family, and his father – a prolific pro-Taliban Youtuber – is known to speak at least two Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, identifies as “Palestinian,” which would make her a likely Arabic speaker. She has confessed to shopping for weapons with Mateen.

Abell says his store alerted authorities to the suspicious man, though he did not say which authorities– whether he spoke to local police, FBI, or Homeland Security. Local CBS 12 notes that Abell’s store appeared to be following the procedures “in line with the FBI’s push for people to ‘see something, say something,‘ if they witness anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.”

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: banglist; mateenfbi; orlandoquestions; orlandoterrorattack
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 06/16/2016 11:42:58 AM PDT by maggief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: maggief

See? SEE?!?!?! Guns ARE bad and we MUST ban them!


2 posted on 06/16/2016 11:45:24 AM PDT by dware (I don't care what bathroom they use, as long as it's in the nuthouse, where they belong)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Bookmark for link distribution.


3 posted on 06/16/2016 11:45:45 AM PDT by Tenacious 1 (You couldn't pay me enough to be famous for being stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Reporting him to the same governments that issued him class d and class g licenses.

Of course nothing was going to be done.


4 posted on 06/16/2016 11:46:11 AM PDT by barmag25
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

He must have called the FBI. And they put it in the illary hopper by accident!


5 posted on 06/16/2016 11:46:36 AM PDT by Harpotoo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief
Abell’s store appeared to be following the procedures “in line with the FBI’s push for people to ‘see something, say something,‘ if they witness anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.”

Probable Transcript:

-- Ring --

"Hello, FBI hotline, how can I help you?"

"Yeah, there was this guy in the store asking about military-grade body armor and bulk ammo purchases. He was acting really strangely.

"You did the right thing calling us - this is how we stop terrorism incidents before they happen."

"Yeah, glad to help. By the way, the guy made a phone call as well and spoke in Arabic."

"YOU ISLAMPHOBE! NO WONDER THE GUY WAS ACTING STRANGELY, HE WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF A BIGOT!"

-- click --

6 posted on 06/16/2016 11:48:17 AM PDT by dirtboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

The law abiding gun owners and dealers did the right thing. The government screws up. The law abiding gun owners and dealers get punished.


7 posted on 06/16/2016 11:48:54 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

[ Probable Transcript:

— Ring —

“Hello, FBI hotline, how can I help you?”

“Yeah, there was this guy in the store asking about military-grade body armor and bulk ammo purchases. He was acting really strangely.

“You did the right thing calling us - this is how we stop terrorism incidents before they happen.”

“Yeah, glad to help. By the way, the guy made a phone call as well and spoke in Arabic.”

“YOU ISLAMPHOBE! NO WONDER THE GUY WAS ACTING STRANGELY, HE WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF A BIGOT!”

— click — ]

You are probably at least 90% correct in that transcript!


8 posted on 06/16/2016 11:52:56 AM PDT by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: maggief

So there were both general and specific warnings on this guy well in advance of his jihad. Sounds just like the Boston Bombers, only worse.


9 posted on 06/16/2016 11:53:10 AM PDT by wrench
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: barmag25

It sounds like this Abell guy actually had some “common sense”, a term the left likes to use for attempting to restrict sales to honest, law-abiding gun enthusiasts. Too bad they can’t find FBI agents who are as aware and cautious as the gun store owner.


10 posted on 06/16/2016 11:55:23 AM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatusb)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Definitely the gun’s fault and not the inept FBI that let a crazy DEMOCRAT radical Islamic terrorist slip through their hands over and over again.


11 posted on 06/16/2016 11:55:59 AM PDT by NYRepublican72 (Democrats -- it's always someone else's fault.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Sounds like the shop owner is a “racist” (even though Islam is not a race). CAIR needs to get on the ball and sue him for refusing to sell. If this goes unchallenged, other gun shop owners may refuse to sell to other followers of CAIR in the future.

And Obama needs to send the DOJ since this sounds like a civil rights violation.


12 posted on 06/16/2016 12:06:53 PM PDT by LostPassword
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

Sounds like the George Zimmerman call.

The new script at 911 and the FBI says, “Is he a member of a protected class?”


13 posted on 06/16/2016 12:08:23 PM PDT by FirstFlaBn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: maggief

But that would be hateful. Instead we should ban guns used by hunters in Maine. Especially if they are conservative Christian Republican hunters.


14 posted on 06/16/2016 12:12:43 PM PDT by Fido969
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

This will be a winning formula for Trump if he and his “handlers” don’t ignore it.


15 posted on 06/16/2016 12:20:30 PM PDT by CincyRichieRich (Still binary in all the right ways.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Law enforcement doesn’t give a rat’s patootie.

I had an employee who left an AK and a 9mm pistol on the ranch I managed. He did time for armed aggravated assault on his father in law. When he got out he wanted his weapons back. I called the sheriff to come and get them but he said he couldn’t. I repeatedly reminded him that this guy was a violent felon. I asked if they could be present when I handed the weapon over, the AK being illegal in CA. He said no. He said the weapons were his and I had to give them back. This I did after I ground the firing pins down and made some other modifications to guarantee failure. The sheriff said I had to give them back, he did not say I had to give them back in good working order.


16 posted on 06/16/2016 12:29:39 PM PDT by rey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CincyRichieRich
This will be a winning formula for Trump if he and his “handlers” don’t ignore it.

Ad if he can get the MSM to report it
17 posted on 06/16/2016 12:30:03 PM PDT by uncbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: NYRepublican72
RE>Definitely the gun’s fault and not the inept FBI that let a crazy DEMOCRAT radical Islamic terrorist slip through their hands over and over again

I'm stealing that line

18 posted on 06/16/2016 12:35:18 PM PDT by IC Ken
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: gigster
Too bad they can’t find FBI agents who are as aware and cautious as the gun store owner.

Not PC so not in the FBI Procedures Manual - see also reports of Minnesota Flight Schools only teaching take-offs and in-flight procedures to sundry Muslim students in 2000.

19 posted on 06/16/2016 12:46:13 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: wrench

I don’t even know where to begin.

Decent Americans are tracked, followed, eavesdropped on, arrested, accused of terrorism simply because of their politics or religion yet a muslim who is openly plotting a massacre is given a green light and anyone who questions him is treated like a criminal.

Shaking my head...


20 posted on 06/16/2016 12:52:26 PM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson