Orlando massacre: Omar Mateen's ex-wife says he beat her and held her hostage

LONDON. KAZINFORM Omar Mateen's former wife says the man responsible for America's deadliest ever mass shooting was physically abusive towards her, had mental health issues and was "obviously disturbed, deeply, and traumatised".

Sitora Yusifiy was married to Mateen for four months in 2009 until her family was forced to “literally rescue me” after he kept her “hostage”, she said on Sunday in Colorado.

 “In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family, loved to joke, loved to have fun,” Yusifiy said of Mateen, whom she had met online.

“A few months after we were married I saw his instability, I saw his bipolar, and he would get mad out of nowhere, and that’s when I started worrying about my safety.

“Then after a few months he started abusing me physically, very often, and not allowing me to speak to my family, and keeping me hostage from them,” she said.

She said her family arrived to rescue her from Mateen “and had to pull me out of his arms”.

The 29-year-old, who shot and killed 50 people and injured another 53 in gay club in Orlanda early on Sunday, was “very short-tempered”, Yusifuy said.

Read more at The Guardian