FBI admits failure to act on Florida school gunman
PARKLAND (Reuters) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday said it had failed to act on a tip warning that the man now accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school possessed a gun, the desire to kill and the potential to commit a school shooting.
The disclosure sparked angry disbelief from residents of the Miami suburb of Parkland still reeling from Wednesday’s massacre, the deadliest shooting ever at a United States high school, and led Florida’s governor to call for the FBI chief to resign.
A person described as someone close to accused 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz called an FBI tip line on Jan. 5, weeks before the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, to report concerns about him, the agency said in a statement.
“The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” it said.
That information should have been forwarded to the FBI’s Miami field office for further investigation, but “we have determined that these protocols were not followed,” the agency said.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he has ordered a review of FBI procedures following the shooting, carried out by Cruz who was armed with an AR-15style assault rifle and numerous ammunition cartridges.
“We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
The mishandled information followed a tip to the FBI in September about a YouTube comment in which a person named Nikolas Cruz said, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”
The FBI said it investigated that comment but was unable to trace its origins, closing the inquiry until Cruz surfaced in connection with Wednesday’s mass shooting.