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Washington • Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told a national radio show Tuesday that the gunman who killed 49 people and wounded dozens more in an Orlando, Fla., club may not have acted alone.
"I'll be shocked if there weren't others involved with this," Stewart told radio host Hugh Hewitt. "I'll be even more surprised if there weren't some people around him that [were], to some level, aware of his intentions and could have warned us."
Stewart said later in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune that he was speaking for himself and although he has been briefed by law enforcement about the shooting at the Orlando gay club, he was only speculating that this may not have been the act of a lone wolf.
"In the process of being radicalized, you don't do that by yourself. There are generally others involved with that," Stewart said, adding "The radicalization process isn't something that you do in a vacuum."
The FBI had contacted Omar Mateen twice in the past, once for inflammatory remarks he made to a co-worker and another time when his name surfaced as an acquaintance of a Florida man who blew himself up in Syria as part of a terrorist attack. Both investigations into Mateen were closed without charges.
Mateen, 29, was shot and killed in the club after authorities say he murdered 49 people in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
FBI Director James Comey said the shooter made three 911 calls, claiming allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State and 2013 Boston Marathon bombers.
"There are strong indications of radicalization by this killer and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorism organizations," Comey said.
Law enforcement officials have not said publicly that Mateen was part of any orchestrated effort for the Islamic State or another terror group.