An imam at the mosque of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen said the gunman was quiet and had no friends. Speaking at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, Syed Shafeeq Rahman said he remembered the man responsible for the worst shooting in recent US history as an isolated and quiet man with a young son.

More about the Orlando shooting

"He was very quiet, he would come at the last minute and he would leave at the first minute. He would not talk to anybody and when somebody would shake hands with him, he would smile and shake hands with him and he would leave," Rahman said.

The imam, who said Mateen was interested in bodybuilding and worked as a security guard, also dismissed the idea he was linked with Islamic State (Isis/Daesh), telling AP: "My personal opinion is that this has nothing to do with Isis."

"He was quiet in the mosque which was good. Because of the muscular thing and the rumours here and there that he was very aggressive, but... he might have something in his mind, some anger or some psychological thing," Rahman told The Telegraph.

He added: "He would bring his five-year-old son with him and the son would be playing around him, he would be busy in his prayers, then he will take his son on his shoulders and he would just leave.

"The thing is our sermons are Friday and he would hardly ever come for Friday, maybe because of his job he go to some other mosque that I don't know.

"We don't recall any friends of his in this mosque, he wouldn't socialise with anyone".

"He went to the police academy and then he became a security guard so we though he had all kinds of plans from the authorities.

"When he was a kid he used to be naughty, he used to run a lot, but when he became a grown-up he became isolated from the community people."

The imam, who also works as a doctor, said there was nothing at the mosque that could have radicalised the shooter, adding he could have become interested in violence through the internet.

"There is nothing he is hearing from me to do killing, to do bloodshed to do anything because we never talk like that; we always stand for peace and justice," he said.