Orlando gunman Mateen was a regular at gay nightclub before shooting

The man who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida was reportedly a regular at the club and used gay dating apps.

Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire at Pulse nightclub on early Sunday morning, killing dozens and injuring about 53 people. The massacre was the deadliest shooting in US history.

Former customers at Pulse said they had seen Mateen drinking at the nightclub on several occasions. Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday: "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent.

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

Kevin West, a 37-year-old Navy veteran and regular at the nightclub, told the LA Times that Mateen had messaged him on gay dating app Jack’d, but they never met. When West saw photographs of Mateen after the shooting he went straight to the police station and identified Mateen to FBI officers.

Cord Cedano, 23, told to the Washington Post that he had also seen Mateen at Pusle and was contacted by him a year ago, “It was definitely him. He’d come in for years, and people knew him. He was open with his picture on the sites; he was easy to recognise.”

Mateen’s former classmate Samuel King also told the Washington Post that Mateen had known that he was gay and many of his friends were but he never said anything. “He had to know it, but I never got any sense of homophobia or aggression from him”.

Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen said to the Palm Beach Post that he was not gay.“If he was gay, why would he do something like this?”

Sitora Yusufiy, Mateen’s ex-wife told reporters that Mateen had been violent and abusive towards her and she believed him to be mentally ill. When CNN asked her if she thought Mateen was gay she said that she did not know.

On Monday several vigils across the world were held for the victims of the massacre. Thousands gathered outside the Dr Phillips centre in Orlando. President Obama is due to visit Orlando on Thursday to visit victims’ families.

In London, a huge crowd gathered in Old Compton Street, Soho on Monday waving rainbow flags.