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Omar Mateen, the gunman who murdered 49 people in an Orlando gay club early Sunday morning, was a gay man himself according to multiple people who knew and had met the man.

A gay man who attended the police academy in 2006 with Mateen said that the pair went out to gay bars and that at one point Mateen told the man he wanted to pursue a relationship.

Meanwhile, multiple people are now coming forward to say that they had spoken with Mateen on gay hookup apps including Grindr and Jack'd.   

The attack, which many assumed was an act of Islamic extremism, now appears to possibly be tied to Mateen's own shame over his sexuality and investigators are now looking into this internal conflict as a possibly motive.  

The shooter's father, Seddique Mateen, made his beliefs on gay people very clear in a video he posted to Facebook on Monday saying 'homosexuals will be punished by God.'

ISIS meanwhile, the terrorist group some believe Mateen killed in the name of, executes gay men on a daily basis in horrific fashions. 

'He's a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men,' said Jim Van Horn, who called Mateen a Pulse 'regular' and described his approach to chatting with people in the club.

'He would walk up to them and put his arm around them or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something and go over and buy them a drink.' 

Mateen's first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, 27, also said that his own father once called him gay in front of her. 

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Killer: Omar Mateen (pictured) killed 49 and injured dozens more Sunday morning when he opened fire in gay club Pulse. His father said he was homophobic, but mounting evidence suggests he was gay and in the closet

Revelation: Kevin West (above) said he spoke with Mateen on the popular hookup app Grindr

More revelations: Cord Cedeno (above) said that Mateen also contacted him on Grindr, but he blocked him because he was 'creepy'

Regular: Chris Callen, who performs as Kristina McLaughlin, said: 'I’ve seen him a couple of times at Pulse, a couple of other people that I’ve spoken with, including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at Pulse many times before'

Van Horn also said he spent one night speaking with Mateen at the bar, but halfway through the conversation his friends asked him to join them outside.

'They said they didn't want me talking to him because he was a strange person,' said Van Horn. 

'I recognized him off Grindr,' said an emotional Cord Cedeno in an interview with MSNBC on Monday, adding that he eventually blocked Mateen on the app because he was 'creepy.'.

Cedeno also recognized Mateen from the club, saying: 'He's been there several times. I know that for a fact.'

Kevin West said he had spoke with Mateen on another gay hookup app, Jack'd, for the past year, and that he was often ask him was clubs were 'popping.'

He then saw Mateen at 1am Sunday as he crossed the street while making his way towards Pulse just one hour before the start of the deadly massacre. 

'He walked directly past me. I said, "Hey," and he turned and said, "Hey," and nodded his head,' West told the Los Angeles Times.

West went to police as soon as he saw pictures of Mateen in news reports, handing over his phone and Jack'd login to FBI agents, who still had it as of Monday. 

Many in the Orlando gay community are now coming forward to share similar stories of seeing Mateen at clubs for the past decade or speaking to him on hookup apps.

The former male classmate of Mateen who was once asked out by the mass-murderer told the Palm Beach Post that he would hang out with gunman alone and in groups, and that they went to gay clubs together during that year.

The man, who did not wish to be named, was a classmate of Mateen's in 2006 when they both attended the Indian River Community College police academy.

He also said that refused Mateen's romantic advances at the time. 

'We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,' he said.

He said that he believed Mateen was gay and closeted, and that he was an 'awkward' figure.

'He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,' he said. 'He was always socially awkward.' 

Regulars at Pulse said they saw Mateen several times over the past three years drinking alcohol and dancing with men.

A couple who perform as drag-queens at the popular venue in 1912 South Orange Avenue said they had seen the 29-year-old party at Pulse. 

Ty Smith and Chris Callen said the father-of-one was sometimes so drunk he had to be removed from the club.

Callen, who performs as Kristina McLaughlin, said: 'I’ve seen him a couple of times at Pulse, a couple of other people that I’ve spoken with, including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at Pulse many times before.' 

Smith said he'd seen Mateen at Pulse 'at least a dozen times.'

'We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times,' Smith said. 'He told us he had a wife and child.' 

A security guard who worked at the club two years ago still remembered Mateen turning up to the venue, he added. 

Orlando's gay community is still reeling from the tragedy, and those who had seen Mateen at gay clubs before seem to all have a story to share about his temper. 

Callen said Mateen, who seemed like a 'nice guy' and was 'comfortable' with the draq queens, threatened someone with a knife when he became angry about a religious joke.    

Remarks that Mateen drank heavily conflict with his apparently strict adherence to his Muslim faith, including regular worship at a mosque in his home town of Port St. Lucie - where he was quiet and kept to himself.  

Ex-wife: Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy (right) told her fiance Marco Dias (left) that Mateen had 'gay tendencies', according to an interview Dias gave with Brazilian media

Changed: Matta's dad said his son became angry at seeing two men kissing, but an old school friend said that Mateen used to be friendly and cordial around gay people and that 'Something must have changed' since

Yusufiy, whom Mateen he met online in 2009 and married soon after, told the New YorkDaily News his family think he murdered the 49 because he was in turmoil about who he really was - not because he was an Islamic extremist.

'When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past -- that was recent at that time - and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife,' Yusufiy said. 

'So, I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about.'

Yusufiy also spoke on a Brazilian TV station yesterday, joined by her fiance from the country, Marcio Dias. 

Speaking Portuguese, he told the channel that Yusufiy told him Mateen had 'gay tendencies' and had been called gay in front of her on several occasions by his father. 

He also said that she didn't believe that Mateen's supposed Islamic beliefs were at the root of his attack.

She had told the FBI that he was unstable, and that she didn't believe he was part of a terrorist group - despite him pledging allegiance to ISIS before the attack and the fundamentalists later claiming responsibility for it.

'The FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media,' he told the station.

Yusufiy has also said that Mateen 'beat her': 'After a few months he started to beat me. He was mentally unstable… he was obviously disturbed. I know he had a history of [taking] steroids.  

Yusufiy sought divorce from Mateen in 2011, after he turned violent.   

Attacked: Mateen attacked gay club Pulse (pictured) on Sunday morning. He had been a regular there for three years, witnesses later testified - and denied Mateen's father's claim that his son was homophobic

Drunk: Mateen had sometimes just sat quietly in Pulse, one witness said, but at other times he became very drunk and belligerent. He spoke to few there, but when he did he would talk about his wife and son (pictured)

Mateen married a second time after divorcing Yusufiy, to Noor Zahi Salman, with whom he had a son. 

The pair got a mortgage together in 2013, but they were living at separate addresses when he went on his rampage. 

His father, Seddique Mateen, told the Palm Beach Post that he didn't believe his son was gay. 'If he was gay, why would he do something like this?' he asked the paper.

And he had previously recounted a time when his son became angry after seeing two men kissing in Florida.

But speaking to The Canadian Press, Smith said that the story was 'bullc***'.

'That's straight-up c***,' he said in an interview at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. 

'He's been around us. Some of those people did a little more than (kiss) outside the bar... He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?'

Classmate Samuel King said Mateen was not homophobic when he knew him in the year after their 2004 graduation.

'What is shocking to me is that the majority of the staff at Ruby Tuesday's when I worked there were gay,' he said.

'He clearly was not anti-(gay), at least not back then. He did not show any hatred to any of us. He treated us all like the individuals we were. He always smiled and said hello.'

King, who characterized Mateen as friendly and talkative, said: 'Something must have changed.'