FBI Under Fire Over Failure to Pursue Cruz Tip, Florida Governor Wants Director to Resign
“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.
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 behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” it said.
This information was reportedly not passed on to agents in the Miami FBI office.
Reuters reports that Florida Governor Rick Scott said the FBI’s director should resign after the agency’s admitted mistake over the handling of the January 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.”
There are also reports that local law enforcement were called to the family home of Nikolas Cruz 39 times since 2010, but it’s not immediately clear which calls, if any, involved Cruz.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday he has ordered an immediate review of the processes at the Department of Justice and the FBI, because of the agency's lack of follow up on the Cruz tip.
"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," Sessions said in a statement.
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