[music playing]
NARRATOR: Omar Mateen was born in New York City
and grew up in the sunny suburbs of Fort Pierce, Florida.
The son of Afghan immigrants, his family
had high expectations for Omar.
But he struggled with academics and discipline,
and eventually took college courses
to become a security guard.
Everybody thought his troubled youth was behind him.
No one would ever guess he would perpetrate the biggest mass
shooting in modern history.
[police sirens]
Before the shooting, it was a big night.
There were a couple of hundred people in that club.
It was closing time, and people were still hanging out.
Someone walks in with a high-powered rifle,
mows down all of these people.
NARRATOR: Trapped inside the club
are best friends Leydiana, Mario, Amanda, and Mercedes.
I hear a gunshot.
I turn around and I see the shooter shooting everybody.
And I just yelled out, run.
When he struck me with the bullet, I grabbed my friend
and I threw him to the floor.
I told him that I got hit.
I saw people at the bar just like--
like, going-- like hiding themselves and trying to duck.
And it was just terrifying.
It was horrible.
I was thinking to myself, I'm gonna die here in a club.
NARRATOR: The casualties inside the club
include Christopher "Drew" Leinonen.
The family of his partner, Juan Guerrero,
raced to the hospital, anxious for news.
The reason we went to the hospital
is because his friend saw him get into an ambulance.
I just wanted everything to be OK.
And I was like, just praying for good news.
But at this point, the people outside--
they still haven't told us anything.
But it's written--
All over their face.
--all over their face, but I still wanted it to be--
you know, I didn't want it to be real.
So they take my parents into the room.
Literally, like five seconds after they're in that room,
I just hear my mom and my dad like, just
the most heartbreaking cry.
I was just like, it's not real. It's not real.
It's not real. It's not real.
That's all I could keep saying for the longest time--
like, it's not real.
Like I keep telling everybody.
It's not just my brother.
Drew was my friend too.
Drew, amazing person, psychologist.
He had his whole like, life together.
And I was so happy for him.
Like, they were actually like live-in boyfriends.
Just so happy for the both of them.
It's OK.
ARYAM GUERRERO: It hasn't fully hit yet.
And I know it will the day that, you know, I want to call him
and I need him for something.
He was always there.
He was like, this big, like light, this big spirit.
He came into a room and you just knew he was there.
It sounds like both of them were excited to spend the rest
of their lives with each other.
But instead, you had to plan a funeral for both of them.
ARYAM GUERRERO: My brother was cremated,
and Drew was cremated as well, so
whenever both moms are ready to put them in a cemetery
together.
So they'll spend eternity together.
Yes, for sure.
SITORA YUSUFIY: When I first heard
that my ex-husband, Omar, was behind the mass shooting,
I was shaking.
Somebody I knew did this.
Somebody I was with did this.
You know, I never would have thought that Omar would
be capable of murdering so many people
and hurting so many others.
That's the traditional Afghan dress.
So it looks like you're both very happy
and in love in this marriage.
It's like it was meant to be.
SITORA YUSUFIY: In the beginning,
it was pretty magical.
INTERVIEWER: And then what happened?
He started showing me his other side.
He would get violent and angry, and it
was not something normal.
I would look in his eyes, and I would not see the man
that I fell in love with.
I would see a monster that was raging with hate
and wanting to hurt everything that is alive.
What was the worst experience that you
had with him in your house?
SITORA YUSUFIY: I was sleeping.
And he walked in and he woke me up
by pulling the pillow from under my head and pulling my hair.
Threw me to the ground and started choking
me until I almost passed out.
And then when you gained consciousness,
what did he say to you?
First, he would start with the laundry not being finished.
But then eventually, he would get to the fact
that he had just gotten into a fight with his father.
What was expected from Omar from his dad and his culture?
To be a good Muslim man and have a family and-- and kids.
We tried to do everything to meet his father's expectations.
But I don't think that he did.
His happiest moments were when he was flamboyant,
when he was singing and looking in front of the mirror
and dancing and taking pictures of himself.
His father would really yell at him to be more manly.
Like, he could never be free to be who he is.
NARRATOR: To this day, investigators still
have not determined Omar Mateen's true motive
as to why he gunned down 49 innocent people
and wounded 53 at the Pulse nightclub.
In his phone call to 911 on the night of the shooting,
Mateen tied himself and his actions to ISIS.
But in the days that followed, other theories
begin to surface.
REPORTER: Omar Mateen, who attacked a gay nightclub here
in Orlando, may very well have been a frequent user
of gay dating apps and may have been
a frequent visitor to that gay bar
himself over the past several years, quoting--
the "Washington Post" quoting several witnesses
who say they saw him on the apps or at the bar multiple times.
NARRATOR: The FBI's investigation found no evidence
to confirm these reports.
But the shootings undeniably heightened
tensions for both the Muslim and the gay communities.
Now, two weeks after the shootings,
two people at the epicenter of the tragedy
are about to meet in hopes of finding common ground.
I'm feeling nervous.
But at the same time, I'm looking forward
to some resolution and some healing.
Hey.
It's good to see you.
You too.
All right, are you ready?
Because I know it takes a lot of courage to do this today.
Want to follow me? - Mm-hmm.
OK.
SITORA YUSUFIY: I do feel waves of anger.
But I do believe this is something my brother
would have wanted me to do.
INTERVIEWER: This is Sitora.
Aryam.
INTERVIEWER: Sitora, I know you're here
because you want to lend some insight into what
led Omar to do what he did.
What are your thoughts about how he became this killer?
You know, I really feel like it was
the pressure from his family.
They didn't allow him to be who he truly is.
And instead, he had to pretend so much by getting
married and having a family.
He didn't do that because he really wanted to.
He did that because he had to.
And-- - It wasn't real.
The life he was living-- - Right.
It wasn't.
Because even his current wife, he met her online.
He just did it because he had to do it to, you know,
get the approval of his father and his culture.
You know, what's unique is that Omar's upbringing
and the way he repressed his true--
his true being is very different than how your brother was.
Yeah.
There is nothing bad you can say about Juan.
He was like, the perfect child.
So when he came out, it was like, what can we do?
Like, we're just gonna love you and accept you for who you are.
With Omar, you know, he hated himself.
And Juan was a reflection for him.
What scares you that's out there?
What scares you?
All the people still teaching hate.
That's what scares me.
My family's from the Dominican Republic.
The mentality out there is different.
Gay, tattoos-- those things are still taboo.
That's why it took Juan so long to come out.
He didn't come out until he was like, 19.
SITORA YUSUFIY: I really believe that Omar wanted
to explore homosexuality.
And for his family, homosexuality is--
The worst thing the worst thing you could ever do.
SITORA YUSUFIY: --the worst thing that you could be.
And his father voiced his disagreement with homosexuality
to Omar all the time.
And so--
He never felt comfortable.
No, his father would disown him.
That's sad.
We are not born with hate in our heart.
Hate is something that is taught.
Meeting you, and you being his ex-wife
and having an insight on him, and us sharing
the same views about the world is
definitely-- brings some more light into the situation.
INTERVIEWER: And it says a lot about humanity
and about the two of you women that you
can come together under such adverse circumstances.
You know, it's a much stronger message than the one Omar sent.
I really hope that this can be a shift in humanity.
To face the challenges that we're going through
and deal with it in a mature, conscious way.
You're my sister now.
You're mine.
You're my sister.
Juan's death is not going to be in vain.
I'm going to use it as a platform.
We all need to spread more love.
We all need to accept each other more.
That's the change that I want to see in this world.
[music playing]