Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioSunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Florida senators pushing to keep Daylight Savings Time during pandemic Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll MORE (R-Fla.) said he believes the person who opened fire last week at a Florida high school should be executed.

During an interview with CBS Miami, Rubio was asked whether he believes Nikolas Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, should get the death penalty.

"The answer is yes," Rubio said.

But he added it's a tough question to answer because he has larger concerns about the death penalty.

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"Not in a case like this, I have concerns in the broader sense about how not everyone gets equal representation in death panels," he said.

"But in this particular case, it'd be hard to argue against the death penalty."

His comments come after Cruz last week allegedly opened fire at a Florida high school, killing 17 people and wounding 14 more.

The FBI has faced scrutiny over its handling of Cruz.

A person close to Cruz called the FBI's public tipline in January and raised concerns about a possible school shooting, citing Cruz's gun ownership and desire to kill.

But the FBI never reported the tip to its Miami field office or investigated the claim.

President Trump ripped the FBI in a tweet over the weekend, suggesting the bureau could have stopped Cruz if it spent less time working on the Russia probe.