An Orlando nightclub owner received a Facebook friend request from Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at another nightclub. Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, investigators from the Orlando Police Department and the FBI arrived at Club Revere to speak with owner Michael Bass.Bass told News 6 investigator Michael Holfeld that he had received a Facebook request from Mateen either late Thursday and early Friday morning. Bass told Holfeld he made the connection when he saw reports on News 6 about the Pulse nightclub shooting.
"When I didn't accept (the Facebook friend request), I looked through his friends first and rejected it. In doing that, I looked -- a few of his friends were just Arabic writing and I didn't even know. It was just nothing that would relate to an LGBT club. It just didn't make sense," Bass told Mike Holfeld.
"But you are sure that's him," Holfeld asked Bass about the friend request from Omar Mateen.
"I am 99.99 percent," Bass said.
"When I saw that picture that morning of the incident, I swallowed my tongue. I work here. I help with security. I run, I operate, I fix. I watch what goes on." Bass said. "It was Omar Mateen."
Club Revere was closed Saturday night, and one of the the regular dancers at the club went to Pulse. News 6 learned the dancer was 35-year-old Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, who died in the mass shooting.
"I will remember him for the rest of my life. (He's) that kind of person," Bass said.