Florida school massacre suspect on authorities’ radar in 2016 -report
PARKLAND, Fla. (Reuters) - A teenager accused of shooting to death 17 people at a Florida high school was investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was receiving sufficient support, a newspaper said on Saturday.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with committing multiple murders on Wednesday at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a Miami suburb. More than a dozen people also were wounded in the deadliest shooting at a U.S. high school.
More vigils and funerals were scheduled for this weekend in and around Parkland. Two gun shows and a rally calling for the firearm safety legislation also were due to be held nearby.
According to a report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a video of Cruz cutting his arm posted to the social media network Snapchat in September 2016 raised concerns among law enforcement and at the Florida Department of Children and Family Services.
“Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun. It is unknown what he is buying the gun for,” said a report written by department officials after investigators interviewed the teenager, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The newspaper reported that the investigators ultimately decided that Cruz, then 18, was receiving enough support from mental health professionals and from his school, and that any risk in his case was low.
Representatives for the Department of Children and Family Services did not respond to requests from comment.
On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted it failed to investigate a warning this year that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.
A person described as close to Cruz called an FBI tip line on Jan. 5 to report concerns about him, according to the FBI. That information was not forwarded to the FBI’s Miami office, in what agency officials called a breakdown in protocol.
The disclosure spread angry disbelief among Parkland residents and prompted Florida’s Republican Governor Rick Scott to call for FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign.
“We have spoken with victims and families and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy,” Wray said in a statement on Friday.