FBI admits to ignoring tip on Florida gunman
AGENCY WAS TOLD IN JANUARY THAT CRUZ HAD DESIRE TO KILL
The FBI in January received a tip to a public reporting line that Nikolas Cruz might carry out a school shooting, but failed to pass the information to its Miami field office or investigate any further, authorities said yesterday.
The bureau acknowledged the startling lapse in a statement, saying a person close to Cruz had contacted the bureau’s public access tip line on January 5 and “provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.” Cruz is accused of killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday.
The bureau said the information “should have been assessed as a potential threat to life” and passed to the Miami field office, but was not, and “no further investigation was conducted at that time.”
“We are still investigating the facts,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public. It’s up to all Americans to be vigilant, and when members of the public contact us with concerns, we must act properly and quickly.
Grieving families prepared for burials and private memorials yesterday even as authorities struggled with questions over whether powerful warning signs were missed before the suspected shooter began his bloodbath in Building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Nearly every probe into random violence uncovers some past moment or comment that loom large in hindsight. But the backtracking after Wednesday’s massacre in South Florida turned up a potentially stunning harbinger — a YouTube post with the message “Im going to be a professional school shooter” by a user “nikolas cruz,” the same name as the 19-year-old suspect accused of killing 17 students and staff in the South Florida school he once attended.
A tipster in Mississippi alerted the FBI in September to the online post, but the bureau checked public and law enforcement databases for any Nikolas Cruz who might be of concern. The FBI said it turned up nothing.
Another element
Still, revelations of the deadend FBI probe added another element to the now-familiar debates over gun control and assault-style weapons after each grim spectacle of mass violence in America. This time, a sharper light was placed on difficult issues of how far law enforcement should reach in following leads as part of preemptive policing.
“Did they do enough in this case? Quite clearly, if you see what happened yesterday, presumably tied to this killer, the easy answer to that is no,” said Ron Hosko, a former FBI assistant director. Hosko, however, said that the bureau receives a flood of tips and must make decisions about which to pursue.
President Trump and others have tried to steer the aftermath of the Parkland shooting away from gun control measures. Yet some Democrats have pushed back — suggesting that issues such as assault-style weapons could become more prominent in this year’s midterm elections.
“Enough is enough,” said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.
“When is the right time?” asked Nelson, a Democrat. “How many more times do we want to do this? How many more folks have to die?”
Cruz remained held without bond on murder charges yesterday. The school campus, meanwhile, was a crime scene with forensic teams scouring the grounds and retracing the steps of the shooter as described by witnesses: first firing an AR-15 assaultstyle rifle into classroom after classroom before slipping away amid the chaos.
Cruz then went to a Walmart, bought a drink, sat at a McDonald’s, and eventually left on foot before he was captured.
Besides the dead and dying, more than a dozen people were wounded. Some remained in critical condition yesterday.
Did they do enough in this case? Quite clearly, if you see what happened yesterday, presumably tied to this killer, the easy answer to that is no.” Ron Hosko | Ex-FBI assistant