Gunman’s father speaks out: ‘This is against the principles of me and the whole family’

Seddique Mateen still thinks of his only son as a “good boy.”

After his son was killed carrying out the worst mass shooting in American history, however, Mateen says he doesn’t miss a thing about him.

“What he did was against inhumanity.”

Monday morning, Mateen, 59, dressed in a dark double-breasted suit and blue tie, invited a huddle of TV crews into his family’s warm, mustard-hued living room decorated with potted palms, Islamic symbols and crystal candle-holders. A deflating pink, heart-shaped balloon, flanked by a row of Mother’s Day cards, sat on a console in the hallway.

“I don’t want any father to go through what we are going through,”Mateen said, clasping his hands and occasionally bowing his head as he sat on an ornate floral sofa surrounded by cameras and mics. “I don’t approve of what he did. What he did was completely an act of terrorism.”

Mateen, a U.S. citizen from Aghanistan, insisted on his love for and loyalty to his new homeland. “The United States is the house that has always taken care of me, my family, all the people from my homeland.... I condemn what he did. I wish I didn’t know that [is] what he was doing. If I could catch him, I would could ask him myself. The only thing I’ll say is those people who lost their loved ones, they are my family. I apologize for what my son did, and I am as sad and as mad as you guys are. You are my family.”

He said he’d had no inkling that his son might perform any kind of act of terrorism.

“If I did know of 1% that he’s committing such a crime, my son, I would arrest him myself. I would have called the FBI. I would have called the local law enforcement.”

His son had not behaved suspiciously when they spoke on Saturday, he said.

“He was normal,” he said.

Previous FBI investigations of his son, he said, hadn’t concerned him too much. “He was getting harassment from different people as far as religious wise, bringing all kinds of different food in front of him.”

“I didn’t see any unhealthy behavior from his part. He was always close to the whole family. He always was playing with his son and his wife. That made me very comfortable.”

The entire family, including his son’s wife and 3-1/2-year-old son, was shocked, Mateen said.

“What he did was an act of terrorism and he striked inside the house, which is against my principle, against what I taught him. I wanted him to get more high education to serve the community.... I don’t allow nobody to do any kind of crime or terrorist attack inside the United States. I don’t allow. My principle as a father as a U.S. citizen, I have been throughout my life against terrorism, against injustice, against what anyone can do against the United States.

“I wish he were alive, so I could ask him the same questions,” he said, his voice swelling. “Why? Why did he do such acts? This is against the principles of me and the whole family.”

—Jenny Jarvie