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The Pulse nightclub shooter intended to attack the Disney World resort, claim prosecutors in his widow’s on-going trial.
NBC News reports that during his widow Noor Salman’s trial, which ends today, prosecutors made the claim in their closing speech to the jury.
Salman, 31, is accused of aiding her husband in the attack that killed 49 people in 2016 and is charged with obstruction and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Pulse nightclub shooter originally planned Disney World attack with gun ‘hidden in stroller’
Omar Mateen with wife Noor Salman
During their closing argument, prosecutors claim Disney World’s shopping and entertainment complex was Mateen’s original target.
He planned to hide a gun in a stroller but became spooked by police and chose the gay club instead.
‘The target of the terrorist attack was not the Pulse nightclub,’ said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney.
‘The target of the attack was Disney.’
The court was shown footage from the Disney Springs complex.
It showed Mateen walking near the House of Blues club in the hours before the Pulse attack.
‘He had to choose a new target,’ she said.
Defense attorneys are due to make their closing statements later on Wednesday.
On Monday, Salman’s attorney’s claimed they had only just learnt the attacker’s father was allegedly an FBI informant.
Her lawyers are arguing grounds of a mistrial, saying that prosecutors should have disclosed information earlier in the case.
The case went to jury deliberation at around 1.45pm ET on Wednesday (28 March).
