Seddique Mateen, the father of the worst mass shooter in U.S. history, was spotted sitting behind Hillary Clinton at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday, and he expressed his strong support for her in an interview afterwards, calling her "good for [sic] United States."
NBC affiliate WPTV spotted Mateen, a member of the Democratic Party, in a red hat sitting behind Clinton. His son Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and murdered 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando on June 12, before being killed by police.
Clinton addressed the massacre in her remarks in Kissimmee before going into her stump speech. Mateen told WPTV afterwards that Clinton was the best choice over Republican nominee Donald Trump, and he showed the station a sign he made to show his support, including her gun control views and that she had "told the truth about Benghazi."
WPTV reporter Tory Dunnan asked Mateen, a Taliban sympathizer, what went into his decision to go to the rally, located near the Orlando club where his son committed his rampage.
"I spoke a lot about that, and I wish that my son joined the Army and fought ISIS and destroyed ISIS. That would be much better," he said.
Dunnan also asked Mateen if the Clinton campaign knew he would be in attendance.
"It's the Democratic Party, so everybody can join," he said.
Asked if he thought people would be surprised that he would show up at Clinton's rally, Mateen said they shouldn't be.
"Why should they be surprised? I love the United States, and I've been living here for a long time," Mateen said.
Dunnan added afterwards that the Clinton campaign promised to get back to her about whether they knew Mateen would be there.
Omar Mateen was also a registered Democrat.