Pulse shooter originally planned to target Disney World

Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that the man who carried out a deadly mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub in 2016 originally planned to strike Disney World. 

Prosecutors alleged that the man, Omar Mateen, had intended to open fire at Disney Springs, a shopping and entertainment area, but was deterred from doing so after seeing police officers, NBC News reported. 

It was then that he chose instead to go to the nearby Pulse nightclub, where he killed 49 people, prosecutors said.

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“The target of that terrorist attack was not the Pulse nightclub,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney said, according to NBC News. “The target of the attack was Disney.”

A video played in court Wednesday shows Mateen walking near the House of Blues in Disney Springs. He then turns and looks at police officers. 

The revelation that Mateen had originally wanted to target a Disney property came as prosecutors made closing arguments in their case against the shooter’s wife, Noor Salman.

Salman is charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization, as well as obstruction of justice for allegedly misleading law enforcement officials investigating the Pulse attack.

Reports emerged shortly after the June 2016 that Mateen had scouted Disney World as a potential target for the attack, and that he and Salman had visited the park several weeks before the shooting.