News

Actions

Ex-wife of club gunman says he was mentally ill

Posted at 10:33 PM, Jun 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-12 23:11:27-04

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The ex-wife of the Orlando nightclub gunman says he was "mentally unstable and mentally ill."

Sitora Yusifiy, speaking to reporters in Boulder, Colorado, says Omar Mateen was bipolar and also had a history with steroids.

She says that in the four months they were together he cut her off from her family and regularly beat her. She says that her family visited her and saw she wasn't OK and rescued her from the situation.

Yusifiy says they literally pulled her out of his arms. She says she left all her belongings and has had no contact with him for seven or eight years.

She says Mateen was religious, but she saw no signs of radicalism.

Of the nightclub massacre she says, "there was no sign of any of this at all."