FBI ignored warning that teen was planning to kill
Agency failed to act on tip-off six weeks before school slaughter
THE FBI was under pressure last night after it admitted to ignoring information it had received about Nikolas Cruz from a source close to the shooter.
‘The caller 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,’ said the FBI in a statement released yesterday.
The teenager shot dead 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida on St Valentine’s Day.
The agency went on to state that the damning information, which came in over their Public Access Line, should have been classified as ‘a potential threat to life’ and the Miami field office notified about the information.
Those protocols were not followed however for reasons that are still not clear, and on Wednesday Cruz shot dead 17 people.
An FBI spokesman said: ‘Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life.
‘The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami field office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken. We have determined that these protocols were not followed.’
Florida Governor Rick Scott yesterday called on the FBI chief to resign.
‘Seventeen innocent people are dead and acknowledging a mistake isn’t going to cut it,’ said Governor Scott. ‘“See something, say something” is an incredibly important tool and people must have confidence in the follow through from law enforcement. The FBI Director needs to resign.’
It was also revealed yesterday that the teenager calmly walked into a McDonald’s half an hour after his killing spree.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, had dumped his semi-automatic rifle and mingled with crowds of evacuated students before heading to a nearby mall.
He entered a Subway sandwich shop inside a Walmart and bought a drink, then went to a McDonald’s and sat for several minutes. In court: Nikolas Cruz appeared on 17 murder charges in Florida
After his arrest, he confessed to police he had carried out the massacre, but offered no explanation as to why he had mown down his former classmates and their teachers in the third-worst school shooting in US history.
Lewis Mizen, 17, who moved from Coventry, England, with his family three years ago, said the attack was ‘a nightmare come to life’. He was in a class when Cruz set off the fire alarm and followed his teacher and classmates out into the hallway, believing they were in a fire drill. When staff began screaming ‘Code red, get back in the building’, they ran back to their form and huddled under desks before hiding in a cupboard.
Lewis said 20 people jammed themselves into the space and hid for two hours, using their phones to watch live news coverage being filmed outside until police came to evacuate them.
He said: ‘It’s one of those things you see on the news and think that will never happen to you, but it has. I have friends who have been killed, I have friends who have been shot. How can this actually be real?’
Cruz, a troubled teenager with a history of violence and disturbed behaviour, stalked the school corridors, shooting into five classrooms apparently at random, at one point doubling back on himself to shoot into some of the same classrooms again.
Police records show he arrived in an Uber hire car, carrying the AR-15 rifle he had bought legally a year earlier, and several magazines of ammunition.
Another pupil, Chris McKenna, said he saw Cruz loading the rifle in a stairwell and said the gunman told him: ‘You’d better get out of here. Things are gonna start getting messy.’
Cruz was only inside the school for seven minutes but his deadly actions have prompted anger over the US government’s failure to act over gun control, despite America’s long history of school mass shootings.
It was also reported last night that the suspect told police he heard voices in his head that gave
‘The FBI director needs to resign’ Suspect told how he heard voices
him instructions for the attack. The voices were described as ‘demons’ by law enforcement sources, reported ABC News.
Cruz, who was adopted as a young child, was said to have become depressed after the death of his adopted mother last November. His legal team said he suffered from autism and depression and described him as a ‘broken human being... a broken child’.
Police had been called to Cruz’s home 39 times since 2010 over claims he was menacing neighbours. He was expelled from the high school last year after assaulting a pupil.