"We even thought of moving to Bergen," Omar Mateen's brother-in-law told the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet when interviewed in the house where Omar previously lived.
Predictably, he did not want to have either his name or his face published. The fact that a family member suddenly became America's worst gunman with at least 49 killings made a bitter impact on the family.
"I would like to be able to travel to Norway without being pointed out as Omar Mateen's relative," the man said.
Omar's ex-wife's guess was that Mateen was bipolar. However, his brother-in-law could not provide any explanation to these questions. By his own admission, he did not believe that the gunman was mentally ill either.
"I do not think Omar had any mental problems. I cannot say that he had any problems of this kind. He was not sick and he was no fundamentalist," he said.
The question of Mateen's political education has been raised after he phoned emergency services from inside the Pulse nightclub and pledged allegiance to both al-Nusra, Daesh and Hezbollah. These are three organizations that are fighting on opposite sides of the conflicts in the Middle East. Mateen's brother-in-law said he had never discussed any politics with Omar.
By his own admission, they never went into religious disputes either.
"We rather discussed what is right to do. Like we should all love God. We never discussed fundamentalism and such things. If you promise something to a friend, you must do it. You must keep what you promise. Such were things we discussed," he said, admittedly seeing no signs of radicalization.
Time and again he stressed his shock and inability to comprehend that "such a good man" could end up performing such a cruel act of terrorism. When questioned by Dagbadet, he only spoke nicely about Omar Mateen, stressing he was a good person despite the atrocities.
"I'm still not sure why he did it," he said.
