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Shooter claimed police academy rejection was over religion

FILE - This undated file image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. With news that Mateen killed dozens of people in a gay nightclub in Florida and was born to Afghan immigrant parents, the Afghan-American community is expressing horror, sorrow and disbelief that one of their own could commit the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (MySpace via AP, File)
FILE - This undated file image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. With news that Mateen killed dozens of people in a gay nightclub in Florida and was born to Afghan immigrant parents, the Afghan-American community is expressing horror, sorrow and disbelief that one of their own could commit the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (MySpace via AP, File) FILE - This undated file image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. With news that Mateen killed dozens of people in a gay nightclub in Florida and was born to Afghan immigrant parents, the Afghan-American community is expressing horror, sorrow and disbelief that one of their own could commit the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (MySpace via AP, File)

By Associated Press 4 min read

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) – Omar Mateen graduated from community college with a criminal justice degree, worked as a security guard and wanted to be a police officer.

But a police academy rejected his application, prompting Mateen to complain that he was denied because of his Muslim faith.

More details about Mateen emerged Wednesday as investigators retraced his movements and tried to talk to anyone who came in contact with him over the last several years. Mateen, a 29-year-old bodybuilder and devout Muslim, opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded. Mateen was killed during the attack.

A number of possible motives and explanations have surfaced, with Mateen calling 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill and his father suggesting he hated gays.

Meanwhile, a newly unearthed clip from a film documentary about the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shows Mateen – then working as a security guard at a cleanup site in Florida – talking cynically about people who make money off disasters.