Anthony Westbury

Treasure Coast Newspapers

A former Fort Pierce police officer who once worked with Omar Mateen at PGA Village said Mateen was "unhinged and unstable."

Daniel Gilroy said he worked the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift with G4S Security at the south gate at PGA Village for several months in 2014-15. Mateen took over from him for a 3-11 p.m. shift.

Gilroy said Mateen frequently made anti-gay and racial comments. Gilroy said he complained to his employer G4S Security several times but it did nothing because he was Muslim. Gilroy quit after he said Mateen began stalking him via multiple text messages — 20 or 30 a day. He also sent Gilroy 13-15 phone messages a day, he said.

"I quit because everything he said was toxic," Gilroy said Sunday, "and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people."

Gilroy said this shooting didn't come as a surprise to him.

PGA Village resident Eleanora Dorsi, however, recognized Mateen's face as a friendly one who guarded her gated community in western Port St. Lucie.

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"Whenever I saw him, he was very polite," Dorsi said Sunday from her summer home in Connecticut. "He was always a gentleman."

Dorsi, who has lived in the community since 2011, estimated she saw Mateen a dozen times through the years, but he left an impression on her because of his chivalry, she said.

"He even helped me with the car once, so I can't say he was creepy," she said.

Mateen helped her work the windshield cleaning function in her new car one time, she said.

Dorsi frequently gave Mateen and other guards at PGA Village pizza, cookies and candy for their hard work, she said. The last time she saw Mateen was a year ago, Dorsi said.

"He was always smiling and just seemed like a very nice, positive person," Dorsi said.

It sent chills down Dorsi's spine to imagine the man charged with keeping her and other locals safe carried out the deadliest mass shooting in the nation's history, she said.

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"You would never ever think that he would have done anything like this," Dorsi said.

"Scary, scary. Very scary. I think everyone feels like that right now," she said. "It hits too close to home."