FBI admits failure to act on Florida school gunman, draws anger

By Bernie Woodall and Zachary Fagenson

 

Mourners leave the funeral for Alyssa Aldaheff, 14, one of the victims of the school shooting, in North Fort Lauderdale, Florida, February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

 

PARKLAND, Fla. (Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday said it failed to act on a tip that the teenager accused of killing 17 people in Florida had guns and the desire to kill, drawing calls from Florida's Republican governor for the FBI director to resign.

 

A person close to accused gunman Nikolas Cruz called an FBI tip line on Jan. 5 to report concerns about him, the FBI said in a statement.

 

"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," it said.

 

The tip appeared unrelated to a previously reported YouTube comment in which a person named Nikolas Cruz said, "I'm going to be a professional school shooter." The FBI has acknowledged getting that tip as well but failing to connect it to Cruz, who is accused of carrying out Wednesday's mass shooting with an AR-15-style assault rifle.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott said FBI Director Christopher Wray should step down over the agency's mishandling of the tip.

 

“The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable," Scott said in a statement. "We constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act."

 

Other Republicans including Florida Senator Marco Rubio also harshly criticized the FBI and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had ordered a review of the bureau and Department of Justice procedures following the shooting.

 

At the funeral for massacre victim Meadow Pollack, an 18-year-old senior who had been headed to university, family friend Jeff Richman expressed disbelief at the FBI fumble.

 

"The FBI apologised? Tell that to families," said Richman, 53, an advertising executive who lives in Parkland. "Everybody always tells you ‘when you see something, say something.’ Well, here people were seeing something and saying something and it still happened."

 

The FBI said the information on Cruz should have been forwarded to its Miami field office and investigated, but that never happened.

 

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

 

The killings in the affluent Miami suburb of Parkland have raised concerns about potential failures in school security and stirred the ongoing U.S. debate about gun rights, which are protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

 

The sheriff of Broward County where the shootings took place said in a Friday press conference that authorities had received around 20 "calls for service" in the last few years regarding Cruz.

 

The sheriff, Scott Israel, said not all of the calls had resulted in the dispatch of law enforcement officers but added that his office would scrutinize them all to see if they were properly handled.

 

Leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump have linked mental illness to Wednesday's violence, suggesting that it was the public's responsibility to warn officials of such dangers.

 

Cruz, who had been expelled for undisclosed disciplinary reasons from the school where he allegedly staged his attack, made a brief court appearance on Thursday and was ordered held without bond.

 

"He's a broken human being," his lawyer, public defender Melissa McNeill, told reporters. "He's sad, he's mournful, he's remorseful."

 

Wednesday's shooting ranks as the greatest loss of life from school gun violence since the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first-graders and six adult educators dead.

 

Broward County officials have called for the demolition of the school building where the killings took place.

 

"No parents are going to want to send their children back into that annex, no one is going to want to go there," said Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine.

 

Trump tweeted on Friday morning that he would leave for Florida later in the day to meet people whose "lives had been totally shattered" by the shooting.

 

The vice mayor of Broward County, a strongly Democratic area, blasted any visit by Trump, saying Republicans had failed to back common sense gun laws and had rolled back measures that made it harder for severely mentally ill people to buy weapons.

 

"Him coming here is absolutely absurd, and he's a hypocrite," Mark Bogen told CNN in an interview following Trump's tweet.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-17

33 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Florida Governor Rick Scott said FBI Director Christopher Wray should step down over the agency's mishandling of the tip.

 

“The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable," Scott said in a statement. "We constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act."

 

Other Republicans including Florida Senator Marco Rubio also harshly criticized the FBI and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had ordered a review of the bureau and Department of Justice procedures following the shooting.

 

Just out of curiosity, are Rick Scott (Florida Governor), Marco Rubio (Florida Senator), and Jeff Sessions (Attorney General) also going to resign for accepting millions of dollars in campaign contributions and endorsements from the NRA? Arguably, the NRA created the conditions whereby a lunatic loser like this could purchase the gun.

 

Hypocrites!

 

Edited February 16, 20188 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

At the end of the day of the massacre , with the tears still streaming down the nation's cheeks, with the flags at half mast, and child survivors curled up on the lawn with memorial candles, the question remains how a 19-year-old urban environment managed to buy or receive an AR15, semi-automatic weapon used by fighters in Afghanistan for example. The answer is simple: he had such a weapon, because it is not easy in the United States - buying a weapon is like buying a hammer, a nail, or a windshield wiper.

 

A 19-year-old is not allowed to buy alcohol in the United States, but a weapon? Whatever comes to hand. Almost every shopping center has a weaponry whose owners are ready to sell to anyone who wants the best in the world of killing: guns, pistols, cartridges, ammunition. No inspection, no forms, no permits. And if not in a roadside shop, almost every city has a hidden corner where sophisticated weapons pass from hand to hand for cash,

and as to Is it ever going to stop? not likely....

38 minutes ago, ezzra said:

At the end of the day of the massacre , with the tears still streaming down the nation's cheeks, with the flags at half mast, and child survivors curled up on the lawn with memorial candles, the question remains how a 19-year-old urban environment managed to buy or receive an AR15, semi-automatic weapon used by fighters in Afghanistan for example. The answer is simple: he had such a weapon, because it is not easy in the United States - buying a weapon is like buying a hammer, a nail, or a windshield wiper.

 

A 19-year-old is not allowed to buy alcohol in the United States, but a weapon? Whatever comes to hand. Almost every shopping center has a weaponry whose owners are ready to sell to anyone who wants the best in the world of killing: guns, pistols, cartridges, ammunition. No inspection, no forms, no permits. And if not in a roadside shop, almost every city has a hidden corner where sophisticated weapons pass from hand to hand for cash,

and as to Is it ever going to stop? not likely....

You are either lying or haven't been to many US cities. 

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

Just out of curiosity, are Rick Scott (Florida Governor), Marco Rubio (Florida Senator), and Jeff Sessions (Attorney General) also going to resign for accepting millions of dollars in campaign contributions and endorsements from the NRA? Arguably, the NRA created the conditions whereby a lunatic loser like this could purchase the gun.

 

Hypocrites!

 

 

If it is arguable that the NRA "...created the conditions whereby a lunatic loser like this could purchase the gun." please make that argument.

 

What gun law would have prevented this?

Troll post removed.

 

16 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

If it is arguable that the NRA "...created the conditions whereby a lunatic loser like this could purchase the gun." please make that argument.

 

What gun law would have prevented this?

Isn't it all about minimisation of risk? Take a look at Florida's gun laws, no license required, no background check  - ridiculous. In the bigger picture many States do not send data for the Federal database for background checks, advising of mental health issues, for ideological reasons.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Florida

4 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Isn't it all about minimisation of risk? Take a look at Florida's gun laws, no license required, no background check  - ridiculous. In the bigger picture many States do not send data for the Federal database for background checks, advising of mental health issues, for ideological reasons.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Florida

So apparently you can't make the argument either

Just now, mogandave said:

So apparently you can't make the argument either

At the end of the day, there are no laws which will stop an individual killings fellow human beings. So what are you saying, don't have any gun laws? Not having gun laws laws in-place for even basic risk minimisation, as in the case of Florida, IMO, is absolutely stupid.

 

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

At the end of the day of the massacre , with the tears still streaming down the nation's cheeks, with the flags at half mast, and child survivors curled up on the lawn with memorial candles, the question remains how a 19-year-old urban environment managed to buy or receive an AR15, semi-automatic weapon used by fighters in Afghanistan for example. The answer is simple: he had such a weapon, because it is not easy in the United States - buying a weapon is like buying a hammer, a nail, or a windshield wiper.

 

A 19-year-old is not allowed to buy alcohol in the United States, but a weapon? Whatever comes to hand. Almost every shopping center has a weaponry whose owners are ready to sell to anyone who wants the best in the world of killing: guns, pistols, cartridges, ammunition. No inspection, no forms, no permits. And if not in a roadside shop, almost every city has a hidden corner where sophisticated weapons pass from hand to hand for cash,

and as to Is it ever going to stop? not likely....

Why do you spout such lies? Why don't you back up your "facts" as far as every shopping center having weapons to sell to anyone who wants them? As far as every city having a hidden corner where anyone can buy these weapons...you just described every city in the world.

 

What has the weapon of choice used by terrorists and mass killers been lately? Has it not been vehicles? Why don't you rant and rave about how easy it is to buy or rent them?

 

What this young man did is terrible beyond comprehension, but put the blame where it belongs...on him.

28 minutes ago, simple1 said:

At the end of the day, there are no laws which will stop an individual killings fellow human beings. So what are you saying, don't have any gun laws? Not having gun laws laws in-place for even basic risk minimisation, as in the case of Florida, IMO, is absolutely stupid.

 

No, I'm not saying that, that would be like saying that because some people use guns to kill fellow human beings, that all people that want guns should be punished. 

 

 

 

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

I wonder how many tips the FBI gets in a year about potential nutters; it's crazy, you can't contain a situation like this where every man and his dog can get hold of a gun. Not my problem though - I come from a country that's gone to the other extreme, my walking stick is probably considered a lethal weapon.

Deflection, deflection, deflection...blame anything, blame anyone, but never, no never, mention gun control. 

The FBI should definitely review their processes but first priority is to make buying semiautomatic weapons (mass murder machines) much much harder for anyone to buy, especially young men that have been in mental health facilities. The FBI fail pales in comparison to Florida law that allowed this kid to buy such a weapon on the first place! 

Turns out he is a right wing extremist, trained with Neo Nazi type white supremacists, and is on record as wanting to kill black people, Mexicans, gays, and Jews. Maybe this should be classified as white supremacist right wing domestic terrorism?

 

A disproportionate percentage of the people he murdered were Jews. It's not being widely reported that Parkland is an important part of Jewish south Florida, meaning politically liberal and pro gun control. 

 

I'm not saying there is any evidence that he specifically targeted Jews. That's not been made public as yet. It could be random because there are lots of Jews in that school as teachers and students. 

 

Anyway, of the 17 people the shooter murdered, 5 were Jews. Considering the Jewish population in the U.S. is well under 2 percent, that's a really high percentage.

 

"Exclusive: Group chat messages show school shooter obsessed with race, violence and guns"

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/16/us/exclusive-school-shooter-instagram-group/index.html

 

On this topic, maybe the shooters affiliation and training with a white supremacist group with a Neo-Nazi flag should mean that the FBI and also U.S. police authorities should be paying a lot more attention to ALL members of such groups, as potential mass murderers / domestic terrorists, whatever label you wanna use. 

Edited February 17, 20188 yr by Jingthing

6 hours ago, mogandave said:

What gun law would have prevented this?

 

Is that a trick question?

 

How about a gun law that states its only legal to own, store and use a gun within a Federal controlled gun range.  Unless you can show that you have a real and professional need such as a park ranger etc...even then this would be subject to very strict background and mental heath checks.

7 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

If it is arguable that the NRA "...created the conditions whereby a lunatic loser like this could purchase the gun." please make that argument.

 

What gun law would have prevented this?

The same laws that are in place in most European countries and Australia, for instance. When did you last read about such atrocities in those places?

The same laws that are in place in most European countries and Australia, for instance. When did you last read about such atrocities in those places?

Paris

23 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Paris

So far in 2018, there has been 18 mass shootings at US schools, how many mass shootings have there been at French schools over the same period?

 

How many mass shootings have there been, at any location, in France for 2018?

 

 

Edited February 17, 20188 yr by Air Smiles

So far in 2018, there has been 18 mass shootings at US schools, how many mass shootings have there been at French schools over the same period?
 
How many mass shootings have there been, at any location, in France for 2018?
 
 

Not true.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-there-havent-been-18-school-shooting-in-2018-that-number-is-flat-wrong/2018/02/15/65b6cf72-1264-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.ebe44667d4b2


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So far in 2018, there has been 18 mass shootings at US schools, how many mass shootings have there been at French schools over the same period?
 
How many mass shootings have there been, at any location, in France for 2018?
 
 

There were 24 mass shootings French schools

Really, always something uncovered... post affect.. like the heavily armed police after all the shooting has been done frightening even more those terrified students...  

 

There were 24 mass shootings French schools

Over what time period?

He asked about 2018. Starter guns for track meets don't count.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

More chickens coming home to roost

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43088644

Edited February 17, 20188 yr by Bluespunk

And back on topic : It is going to take more than a review of FBI policy regarding tips.

The worthless layers of upper management should be fired. A reply that FBI cannot respond to "millions" of tips is a sorry conflation of vague annonamous phone calls with hard factual reports as in this loco in FL. And also in past case of flight instructor report to FBI that student wanted to learn to fly not land (9/11). So these saps in FL FBI should be fired and sued, may even be criminal negligence .

 

 

 

 

 

The FBI investigates crimes.   Until a crime is committed, they are not the best agency to charge with 'looking into things.'   If they are given the responsibility, then they must have the manpower to do it.   

 

 

14 hours ago, mogandave said:

There were 24 mass shootings French schools

 

Cannot locate the info. So out of curiosity over what period of time and were they carried out by a school student/s?

The FBI has done well in prosecuting mafia for conspiracy (planning a crime before the act) using wire taps so why not E taps. And also conspiacy expanded to apply to indivduals.

Edited February 18, 20188 yr by morrobay