Orlando gunman had turbulent high school career
STUART, Fla. — Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen switched high schools at least once before graduating in 2003, a spokesperson for the district said. Mateen had left a school he attended in his freshman year where one former administrator has claimed the gunman “was a regular in the dean’s office.”
Martin County School District spokeswoman Jamie Penn Adcock confirmed to Yahoo News that Mateen graduated in 2003 from Stuart Adult Community High School. During his freshman year, Mateen attended Martin County High School, which is also in the district.
According to its website, Stuart Adult Community High School offers “an alternative to the large traditional high school” that is ideal for “students who feel uncomfortable in large high school settings” or those who need “a more flexible schedule.” Adcock described the school as a place for students who are “there not necessarily for extra curriculars and the traditional high school experience.”
“They’re just there to get the diploma,” Adcock said.
Adcock said transferring into Stuart Adult Community High School would not necessarily be “related to discipline.” However, the Miami Herald reported the former dean of students at the first school Mateen attended, Marty Bielicki, claimed that the shooter “had issues.” Bielicki, who retired from the Martin County School board in 2014, detailed his experiences with Mateen in a Facebook note.
“He had issues. All the records were discarded by the school system, per statute. Clearly, if his employer had access to his juvenile record, he would be the last person to own a weapon,” Bielicki reportedly wrote of Mateen’s time at Martin County High School.
Bielicki did not respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News.
Early Sunday morning, Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where he killed 49 people and injured more than 50 in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Authorities are currently investigating the attack.
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