FLORIDA: State Seeks $150K Fine From Security Company That Employed Pulse Massacre Shooter

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

When Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen applied for a security job in 2007, he first had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The company that hired him, G4S, told the state that a doctor gave Mateen a clean bill of mental health.

But after the June killings opened Mateen’s life to nationwide scrutiny, the doctor named on formal state documents said she never met Mateen. She had sold her practice and was living in Colorado when he applied for the job.

G4S acknowledged that a different doctor did the examination and called the mixup a “clerical error.” But state records released Friday show that same error happened hundreds of times.

G4S listed Dr. Carol Nudelman as the psychiatrist of record on at least 1,500 applications after she left the state, leading to an investigation and large fine by the Florida Department of Agriculture.

State officials filed paperwork seeking a $150,000 fine from G4S, saying the company essentially rubber stamped the mental evaluations of people seeking to become armed guards.

Before he killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub on June 12, Mateen was a G4S security guard for about nine years. Licensing records show he was a proficient shooter who scored in the 98th percentile with the same caliber weapon — a 9mm semiautomatic pistol — used in the Orlando slayings. Mateen also used a semi-automatic rifle inside the nightclub.

(Tipped by JMG reader Dan)