Stanley Almodovar III, 23, had tomato-and-cheese dip prepared by his mother to eat when he came home from his night out.
Instead, Rosalie Ramos was awakened by a call telling her something had happened.
Ramos told the Orlando Sentinel that her son, a pharmacy technician, posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to Pulse nightclub.
"I wish I had that (video) to remember him forever," she told the newspaper.
A friend, Hazel Ramirez, told the Washington Post she also saw a video from Almodovar on Snapchat. She described Almodovar as "kind, but sassy," and someone who was comfortable with his sexual identity.
"He was so proud of who he was," she told the Post. "He would do his makeup better than anyone else. It was so easy to be myself with him."