South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Publix shooter’s online threats weren’t reported to Facebook, company says
Despite posting threats on Facebook about wanting to kill people, including children, Publix shooter Timothy Wall’s account was never reported to the platform, Facebook said on Saturday.
A day after Wall walked into a Publix in Royal Palm Beach and killed a 69-year-old grandmother and her 1-year-old grandson in a seemingly random attack before killing himself, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw expressed anger with Wall’s friends and family who failed to report his threats.
Wall’s ex-wife knew he had been acting paranoid and felt he was being followed, Bradshaw said. However, the sheriff ’s office had no indication that 55-year-old Wall posed a danger to the public.
“You think a damn soul told us about that? No,” Bradshaw said Friday during a press conference. “And if it sounds like I’m angry, it’s because I am.”
Wall’s gun could have been seized, Bradshaw said, and innocent lives could have been saved.
The shooting occurred just before the lunch hour Thursday at The Crossroads plaza at 1180 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. Investigators say they have no indication that Wall knew the woman and her grandson, Bradshaw said.
The shooting was over by the time the first sheriff’s deputy arrived and found the three bodies. No one else was hurt.
Facebook and Instagram profiles connected to Wall were removed from the platforms on Thursday, a Facebook spokesperson said. They declined to say when Wall posted the threats on his account or whether his account was public.
“On Thursday we designated the shooting as a violating event under our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy, which means we will continue to remove content that praises, supports or represents the shooting or the identified suspect” a Facebook spokesperson wrote in an email.
Facebook said it is cooperating with law enforcement on the matter.