FBI Releases Statement About the Shooting in Parkland, Florida

On January 5, 2018, a person close to Nikolas Cruz contacted the FBI’s Public Access Line (PAL) tipline 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.

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 for the information received by the PAL on January 5. The information was not provided to the Miami Field Office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said:

“We are still investigating the facts. I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public. It’s up to all Americans to be vigilant, and when members of the public contact us with concerns, we must act properly and quickly.

“We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy. All of the men and women of the FBI are dedicated to keeping the American people safe, and are relentlessly committed to improving all that we do and how we do it.”

Previous Notification to FBI

In a Conservative Base report, Jim Kouri wrote:

Rob Lasky, the special agent in charge (SAIC) of the FBI’s Miami office, admitted during a press briefing on Thursday morning that the scandal-ridden agency probed a comment made on a video posted on YouTube September 2017. Lasky noted that a statement in the video coincided with the remark reported to the FBI by vlogger (video-blogger) Ben Bennight.

Unfortunately, the FBI spokesman claims agents could not identify the user who made the comment. “No other information was included in the comment which would indicate a particular time, location or the true identity of the person who posted the comment,” the FBI said in statement.

The comment, made by user Nikolas Cruz last September, stated: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, made good on his threat on Wednesday — Valentine’s Day and the Catholic Church’s Ash Wednesday, which begins the countdown to Easter Sunday — in Parkland, Florida. He is accused of the bloody rampage that killed 17 people at the school and wounded numerous other teachers and students.