A friend of gunman Omar Mateen says he tipped off the FBI years ago because of possible red flags.

This comes as investigators try to piece together what Mateen did in the hours before the shooting.

Officials say he arrived at the club around midnight, then left for two hours before returning and opening fire.

A man who worshiped with Mateen says he alerted the FBI about him after learning he watched videos of radical Islamic cleric.

“Omar had mentioned to me that he had seen videos of anwar al awlaki, which threw up a red flag for me and I asked him what he thought about them and he told me they were very powerful which raised the flag even more for me,” said Mohammad Malik.

That was the second time the FBI had heard about Mateen.

In 2013, they investigated him for possible extremist ties.

They say both inquiries did not turn out to be anything suspicious.

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