A man who claims to have reported the Orlando shooter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published an open letter in The Washington Post criticizing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump for his anti-Muslim comments.
Mohammed A. Malik, an entrepreneur from Port St. Lucie, Fla., said he met Omar Mateen in 2006 at a relative’s house roughly 10 years before the Orlando massacre that killed 49 people and wounded more than 50.
READ MORE: Orlando shooter described himself as ‘Islamic soldier’ in 911 calls to police
In the open letter, Malik describes how Mateen became “self-radicalized” after watching the lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based imam who was a major recruiter for al-Qaeda.
“After speaking with Omar, I contacted the FBI again to let them know that Omar had been watching Awlaki’s tapes,” Malik wrote. “He hadn’t committed any acts of violence and wasn’t planning any, as far as I knew.”
“I never heard from them about Omar again, but apparently they did their job: They looked into him and, finding nothing to go on, they closed the file.”
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On Monday, U.S. officials released a partial transcript of the 911 call between 29-year-old Omar Mateen and police on the morning of June 12, 2016.
In the wake of the attacks, Trump has made several inflammatory comments about Muslims in the U.S.; including an immigration ban on Muslims and that the United States should “seriously” consider profiling Muslims inside the country as a terrorism-fighting tool.
WATCH: Trump blames the Muslim community for their silence in the days leading up to the Orlando nightclub shooting
“We really have to look at profiling,” Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” ”It’s not the worst thing to do.”
Last week, Trump accused Muslims in Florida of knowing that Mateen “was bad.”
“They have to co-operate with law enforcement and turn in the people who they know are bad … But you know what? They didn’t turn them in. And you know what? We had death and destruction,” Trump said during a rally in New Hampshire.
WATCH: Orlando shooter investigated by FBI multiple times
Malik said he spoke to the FBI about his suspicions regarding Mateen out of a “love” for the United States.
“I love this country, like most Muslims that I know,” he writes.
“I’m just tired of negative rhetoric and ignorant comments about my faith. Trump’s assertions about our community – that we have the ability to help our country but have simply declined to do so – are tragic, ugly and wrong.”
A federal law enforcement official confirmed the author’s co-operation with the FBI, the Washington Post reported.
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