Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, said Tuesday he expected other individuals were likely aware of the intentions of Omar Mateen, the terrorist who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.
“I can say that this individual didn’t wake up on Friday morning and radicalize himself in 24 hours. It’s a much longer process than that,” Stewart said Tuesday on the Hugh Hewitt radio program.
“Speaking of myself, I’ll be shocked if there weren’t others involve with this. I’ll be even more surprised if there weren’t some people around him that weren’t, to some level, aware of his intentions and could have warned us,” Stewart added.
Mateen reportedly dialed 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before entering Pulse, a local nightclub for members of the LGBT community, and opening fire in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted members of the media for twisting the facts surrounding the case.
“Based on some of the media that I’ve done over the last 24 hours, some of them are still, you know, willing to put their head in the sand and change the subject. For Heaven’s sakes, this is not about gun control,” he said. “As much as if you saw the demonstration in the House yesterday from the Democrats, this is not about gun control. This was Islamic terrorism. This is a terrorist attack.”
