A former classmate of Omar Mateen’s 2006 police academy class has come forward, claiming  Mateen was gay, and that he once asked him out.

The classmate said that he, Mateen, and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen once asked him out on a date.

From The Palm Beach Post:

“We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer,” the former classmate said. He asked that his name not be used.

He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him.

“He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him,” he said. “He was always socially awkward.”

The former classmate said the group, including Mateen, went to four gay clubs in the West Palm Beach area back in 2006: Kashmir Night Club in West Palm Beach, Byrd Cage in Port St. Lucie, Cold Keg in Melbourne and Rebar in Port St. Lucie.

None of those clubs could verify the allegations though.

All but Cold Keg have since closed, and the owner there said he hadn’t seen Mateen.

Neither had one of the former owners of Kashmir, who said none of his former employees have reached out to him, either.

Rebar closed in February and became Tattle Tails. The owner of Tattle Tails, Johnscott Willett, said Monday that he did not recognize Mateen. Willett said he worked for nine years at Rebar and didn’t recognize him from his time there, either.

Customers at Pulse nightclub in Orlando have made similar claims, saying they had seen Omar frequent the club over the last three years, and that he used the Jack’d gay dating app.