FBI warned about Florida school shooter but failed to act

Agence France-Presse

PARKLAND, United States – The FBI admitted Friday that it had received a detailed warning from a tipster over a month ago that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz might be planning such a massacre — and that it failed to take any action.

The stunning admission by the top US law enforcement agency came two days after Cruz, a 19-year-old with a long history of troubling behavior, killed 17 people at his former high school in Parkland, Florida.

The acknowledgment also came amid growing anger among parents and students in the south Florida city over America’s seeming unwillingness to toughen gun control laws.

The FBI said a “person close to Nikolas Cruz” made a call to the agency’s public tipline on January 5 to “report concerns about him.”

“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,” the FBI said in a statement.

The information was not handled appropriately, however, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said, and no action was taken.

Cruz, who was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year for disciplinary reasons, went on a rampage at the school on Wednesday using an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle that he legally purchased a year ago.

The FBI said the information from the caller “should have been assessed as a potential threat to life” and forwarded to the agency’s Miami field office.

Instead, “no further investigation was conducted at that time,” it said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: “It is now clear that the warning signs were there and tips to the FBI were missed. We see the tragic consequences of those failures.”

‘Deeply regret’ 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was “committed to getting to the bottom of what happened” and would be “reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public.”

“We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy,” Wray said.

With President Donald Trump planning to visit bereaved families in the shocked city as early as Friday, a groundswell arose for a new push to restrict the availability of guns and to better protect the nation’s schools.

Speaking at the funeral of his 18-year-old daughter Meadow, Andrew Pollack said “our kids are not safe in schools.”

“My princess wasn’t safe in that school,” Pollack said. “Please pray that this horrific tragedy never happens to another family.”

Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa, 14, died in Wednesday’s shooting, made an emotional appeal to Trump on camera with tears rolling down her face.

“We need action! Action! Action!” Alhadeff urged in an interview with CNN on Friday, addressing the US leader as the father of an 11-year-old son of his own.

“Let’s protect Barron, and let’s also protect all these other kids here in Parkland, in Florida, and everyone everywhere else in the United States of America,” she said.

Carly Novell, a senior at the school who survived the shooting, said it was time for politicians to act.

“I just want people to stop, like, talking about it and then not doing anything. People keep, like, saying your thoughts and prayers and all of these things, but it doesn’t make a difference if nothing ever changes.”

Trump to visit Parkland 

Trump tweeted Friday that he planned to meet with victims in the sprawling suburban community about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Miami, although it was not yet clear when the meeting would take place.

The US leader is spending the long President’s Day holiday weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort — a 45-minute drive from Parkland.

“I will be leaving for Florida today to meet with some of the bravest people on earth — but people whose lives have been totally shattered,” he said.

But Trump risked being greeted with angry demands for action on laws that allowed Cruz to amass an arsenal.

“It’s illogical that the law says a minor can’t have a drink, but can buy a gun,” said Mavy Rubiano, the 47-year-old mother of a student who survived the shooting.

Stoneman Douglas students have taken to social media to criticize defenders of the nation’s loose gun laws.

In Washington, the political response so far makes it clear that the powerful pro-gun National Rifle Association — which spent $30 million to support Trump’s election in 2016 — remains formidable.

On Thursday, Trump’s nationally televised address made no mention of guns, or of previous mass shootings.

Trump instead treated the Parkland massacre — the 30th mass shooting of 2018 in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive — as a singular event. He focused on offering sympathy to the families of the victims and the need to provide better mental health care.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said it was not a time for arguing over gun control, while Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio said new gun laws alone would not stop shootings.

As with previous mass shootings, the focus of gun control advocates was easy availability of the AR-15, a civilian version of the US military’s M16.

Millions have been sold around the United States, and AR-15-style rifles were used in the mass shootings in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Texas and Newtown, Connecticut.