Pulse gunman seen on video praying before shooting

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The director of the American Muslim Leadership Council in Kissimmee has released surveillance video of the Pulse Nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen.  He says he released it, after a series of violent events around the country.

“It was the holy month of Ramadan, and I would have never thought in a million years that a Muslim was involved,” explained Iman Abufarah Helmi Agha.

He watched the surveillance after the FBI contacted him two days after the shooting. 

“To my shock, I find out that he was here and thinking, 'How are you praying? What exactly was in your mind while you were praying, contemplating killing people in a couple of days? What was going through your head?'”

He says Mateen’s wife and child were with him, when he arrived to pray at around 10:30 at night on June 8.

“The wife came from a separate entrance with her child. Men and women pray separately. He walked in, didn’t talk to anybody, kept his head down, walked to a corner and stood and began to pray for a good 10 minutes by himself.  Stood up, walked around and turned and walked right out.”

We asked him what he thought about the attack at the Pulse Nightclub.

“I don’t know what was in this guy’s mind. I know it was an attack on a human being and that’s sick, period.! Killing an innocent soul is killing and innocent soul. You can have different names to brand it.  I’m not going to deny that the terrorist threats or Islamic terrorists is an existing threat, but killing innocent people is just killing innocent people.”

He tells us he is working with authorities, saying he is against violent attacks around the world and here at home.

“I’m releasing the tape now, because of the chain of events that have been taking place. We’re going to be more vigilant of strange faces that come around.  This is not something that we should only be depending on law enforcement, this is a collective effort that’s going to take all of us together.”

He also says it has been difficult since the shooting, because they have received many threats.

“We all have to be united, not divided. We love this country as much as anyone else does.”