The Pulse nightclub shooter scoped out Disney World and West Palm Beach as potential locations for the mass shooting he was plotting, according to testimony in his widow’s trial.
Jurors were shown a PowerPoint presentation Thursday outlining shooter Omar Mateen and wife Noor Salman’s activities leading up to the June 12, 2016, massacre that left 49 people dead, according to News6.
Prosecutors allege Salman and Mateen cased Disney and a CityPlace entertainment complex in West Palm Beach prior to the deadly attack.
Mateen was caught on surveillance video June 4 at the St. Lucie Shooting Center buying the Sig Sauer MCX rifle he used to shoot clubgoers. Cellphone data also showed Mateen and Salman traveled from Ft. Pierce to West Palm Beach.
Hours later, Mateen went back to the St. Lucie Shooting Center to buy a Glock 9mm also used in the killing spree.
On May 21, 2016, the couple and their then-3-year-old son were caught on video at Disney Springs buying a toy at a store. While there, Mateen read a news story about an ISIS spokesman calling for terror attacks in the US during Ramadan, according to cellphone records.
Prosecutors also showed footage of the family visiting Victoria’s Secret, Kay Jewelers and Michael Kors in Orlando on June 8. The evidence bolsters their allegations that the couple blew the equivalent of their yearly income in the three weeks prior to the attack on jewelry, toys, weapons, electronics and clothes.
After their shopping trip, the family traveled to Disney Springs again, according to cellphone records presented in court.
Other surveillance video shows Mateen doing target practice with his Sig Sauer at the St. Lucie Shooting Center on June 9.
Just hours before the Pulse attack, Mateen headed toward Orlando and searched on Google for “downtown Orlando nightclubs” and for directions to Eve Orlando — a nightclub located less than two miles from Pulse.
His cellphone connected with towers near Eve Orlando between 12:44 and 1:21 a.m. June 12. He opened fire inside Pulse at 2:02.
Salman is on trial for aiding and abetting Mateen in support of a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice.
The government rested its case Thursday.
On Friday, a judge denied a defense motion for acquittal.