The father of the man who shot 49 people dead at a gay nightclub in Florida has said the attack could have been prevented if the club had better security.
Seddique Mateen said religion had nothing to do with the massacre and that he wished his son was alive so he could ask him why he did it.
His son, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old bodybuilder of Afghan origin, killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Saturday night.
Mr Mateen told Sky News: “The first thing I want to say is that the club should have had good security. The club (with) 300 or 400 people are coming, they should have had a good security.
“My personal feeling (is) he is responsible, the club is responsible for not having good security. If there was a good communication with the security there, they could have protected much better.”
His son, who had pledged his allegiance to Islamic State on the phone to police, was killed by swat officers when he opened fire after crawling out of a hole made to rescue clubbers.
Asked why he thought his son had a gay dating app on his mobile phone, Mr Mateen said he wished his son was alive so he could ask.
“I don’t know what he was doing and I wish he did knew. I don’t know why he was using that, to get there and do something. I wish he was alive so I could ask him,” said Mr Mateen.
The Orlando Sentinel and other news organisations quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times.
"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who added that he saw the killer inside at least a dozen times.
Jim Van Horn, 71, said he was a frequent patron at Pulse and said another " regular" there was Mateen.
“He was trying to pick up people - men,” he told the Associated Press outside Parliament House, another gay club.
Mr Van Horn said he met Mateen once, and the younger man told him about his ex-wife.
“My friends came out from the back and said ‘Let’s go take pictures on the patio’,” Mr Van Horn said. “So I left. And then they told me they didn’t want me talking to him, because they thought he was a strange person.”
‘Homegrown extremist’
Mr Mateen said the attack had “nothing to do with religion”.
“It has nothing to do with Islam. Those killers, they call it Isis in what I heard in the news. They are not religious people. They use the name of religion for their personal gain,” he said.
The White House and the FBI said the gunman, an American-born Muslim, appeared to be a "homegrown extremist" who had touted support not just for Islamic State but other radical groups that are its enemies.
The FBI confirmed that Mateen had come to its attention twice before the attack and had been investigated for 10 months from May 2013 because he had made “inflammatory and contradictory” statements about ties to terrorist groups.
Agents closed the first investigation in early 2014, but Mateen's name came up in a separate FBI investigation in July that year, after he was linked to a Syria suicide bomber.
On Monday LGBT communities around the world gathered for vigils to commemorate the victims.
Old Compton Street in London’s Soho fell silent at 7pm as a sign of respect for the victims, and candles, flags and flowers were laid at nearby St Anne’s churchyard.
National flag
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has confirmed flags will fly at half mast today in memory of the victims of Orlando’s gun attack.
Mr Kenny said the national flag would be lowered on all Government and official buildings to honour those who died.
In a letter to the US president on Sunday, Mr Kenny said Ireland was standing with the US “in this time of immeasurable grief”.
“On behalf of the people and Government of Ireland, I offer our sincere condolences on the shocking loss of life in Orlando today,” wrote Mr Kenny.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the United States, the community in Orlando and the LGBT community, and above all with the families and loved ones of those so senselessly killed and injured.
“Once again we have witnessed the horror of young people being attacked as they enjoy themselves in their own community.
“Words cannot capture the shock and revulsion felt in Ireland, and around the world, at this outrage.”
PA