CANOGA PARK (CBSLA.com) — The father of Orlando mass shooter Omar Mateen regularly traveled to Canoga Park to host a politics show on an Afghanistan TV network, according to reports.

Seddique Mateen told reporters he would have stopped his son had he known he planned to attack an Orlando gay club. Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen, was armed with an AR-15 when he opened fire on a crowd inside Pulse Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding more than 50 more.

He was later killed by police who raided the club.



The Mateen family was from Afghanistan, but Omar Mateen was born in New York. The family later moved to Florida.

Seddique Mateen often traveled to Canoga Park from Florida to host a politics show on the Payam-e-Afghan network. The episodes, which were later posted on YouTube, often discussed what Mateen called the meddling of Pakistan in his homeland’s matters.

Seddique in one episode spoke about the Taliban as “brothers,” according to the Los Angeles Times and has also criticized the Afghan government and announced on-air that he was running for president of Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported.

Mateen returned to the network’s air Monday to speak with network owner Omar Khatab. Mateen said he had no indication that his son would commit the act of violence.

Khatab, speaking with KCAL9’s Jasmine Viel, denied reports that Seddique Mateen talked about supporting the Taliban. He also confirmed that Mateen indeed aspires to be the president of Afghanistan.

Khatab also condemned the attacks.

“My heart went out to those people who lost their lives,” Khatab said.