(CN) - The father of Omar Mateen, the man who carried out the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, said his son was "very slick" about hiding his hatred.
Seddique Mateen said he "didn't notice anything wrong" with his son Omar, hours before the 29-year-old drove to Orlando and stormed into a popular gay club with a rifle.
Omar allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group in a phone call to police during the massacre.
After executing 49 people at the gay nightclub Pulse early Sunday morning, the shooter was killed in a standoff with law enforcement. More than 50 others remain hospitalized.
"I wish there was something I could've done differently, [so] that this would not have happened," Omar's father said in an interview. "And those family that lost their loved ones. ... I could've protected them."
Seddique insisted Omar was not indoctrinated with anti-gay views through his family.
"I respect [gay people]," Seddique said. "Who am I to tell them? I am nobody."
Seddique, who described himself as a financial adviser, invited Courthouse News into the home, where he recounted how he and Omar had been living in South Florida since roughly 1991.
He said he had immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan in the 1980s amid the Soviet-Afghan War.
Parked outside his house Monday afternoon were a red Mercedes sports car and a BMW. Children's toys were baking in the 93 degree heat on the doorstep as a gaggle of reporters inched their way around to speak with him.
Seddique repeatedly referred to his son as "very slick"
"I always taught him the right way. The right thing. And I wish I did catch him, which I said. But I'm sorry I wasn't able ... because I think he was like very slick," Seddique claimed. "I always said that if I did notice something wrong, I would report [it] to law enforcement. I would've arrested him myself."
Omar was born in New York in 1986. He grew up on Florida's Treasure Coast and attended high school in Martin County, an area populated predominantly by white middle-class families, where country music, beach bars and bowling are favorite pastimes.
Omar's high school classmates reportedly recalled how Omar had a disturbingly gleeful reaction when teachers put on the news during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. According to The Washington Post, Omar had clashed with his classmates after showing jubilation over the 9/11 attacks, and he was disciplined by school officials. His father picked him up from school that day and slapped him in public, one classmate told the Washington Post.
Indian River Community College confirmed that Omar had studied criminal justice there, and received his degree in 2006.
He married Sitora Yusufiy in 2009, but she left him after he allegedly became physically abusive. Yusufiy told various media outlets that she feared for her safety on account of Omar's unpredictable, rage-filled behavior.
Her former father-in-law said Omar later remarried and acquired an apartment in Fort Pierce, where he was raising his toddler.
Omar and the child had been stopping by Seddique's home two or three times a week in the time leading up to the massacre, Seddique said. Omar was stationed nearby as a security guard for the Jupiter-based company G4S.
"Omar Mateen was employed by G4S at a residential community in South Florida and was off-duty at the time of the incident," the statement reads. "Mateen was subject to detailed company screening when he was recruited in 2007 and re-screened in 2013 with no adverse findings. He was also subject to checks by a U.S. law enforcement agency with no findings reported to G4S.
