FBI failed to pursue January tip on Nikolas Cruz, Florida school shooting suspect

Show Caption Hide Caption FBI failed to investigate tip about accused Florida school shooter The FBI admitted Friday that it received a detailed tip about accused Florida school shooter Nikloas Cruz in January but failed to follow up and investigate.

WASHINGTON — As recently as January, the FBI received a tip about Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz and his "desire to kill people," but the information was never forwarded for investigation, the bureau confirmed Friday.

In a written statement, the FBI said a person close to Cruz contacted the agency's tip line Jan. 5 to report concerns 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 informant was not identified in the FBI's statement.

"Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life," the FBI said.

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The protocols call for the information to be forwarded to the FBI Miami field office for investigation, the FBI said.

"We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information," the statement said. "The information was not provided to the Miami field office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time."

Police arrested Cruz on Wednesday, shortly after the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre and he has been charged with all 17 murders.

“We are still investigating the facts," FBI Director Christopher Wray said Friday. "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."

Wray said the bureau has 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," he said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a Justice Department review of the matter that would be overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

“It is now clear that the warning signs were there, and tips to the FBI were missed," Sessions said. "We see the tragic consequences of those failures. The FBI in conjunction with our state and local partners must act flawlessly to prevent all attacks. This is imperative, and we must do better."

The breakdown, however, prompted a wave of recriminations from Florida officials, including Gov. Rick Scott who called on Wray to resign.

“The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable," Scott said. “Seventeen innocent people are dead and acknowledging a mistake isn’t going to cut it. An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain. The families will spend a lifetime wondering how this could happen, and an apology will never give them the answers they desperately need...The FBI director needs to resign.”

Members of Congress did not go that far, but urged additional inquiries.

Sheriff's office got 20 past calls about shooter Sheriff Scott Israel says his office received about 20 calls in the past few years about the suspect accused of killing 17 people at a high school in Florida. He told a news conference that his office would be investigating these previous calls.

“It is inexcusable that the FBI failed to follow protocols," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Friday. "The fact that the FBI is investigating this failure is not enough. Both the House and Senate need to immediately initiate their own investigations into the FBI’s protocols for ensuring tips from the public about potential killers are followed through.

"Lawmakers and law enforcement personnel constantly remind the public that 'if you see something, say something.' In this tragic case, people close to the shooter said something, and our system utterly failed the families of seventeen innocent souls."

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., called on the FBI for a more elaborate explanation.

"This has been an excruciating few days for the Parkland community," Deutch said. "Now, it appears that this tragedy could have been prevented.

“We need answers from the FBI to ensure that if people offer their assistance, the FBI will follow through. And we need action from Congress to enact meaningful legislation that will stop horrific gun violence and make our communities safer."

The FBI's failure to pursue the Cruz tip recalled other mass shooting incidents in which the bureau had prior contact with the attackers.

Following the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., the FBI acknowledged that it had conducted a 10-month investigation into shooter Omar Mateen three years earlier after the shooter had made inflammatory remarks to colleagues at a Florida courthouse where he worked as a armed security guard.

Mateen had been interviewed three times before the case was closed.

In 2015, Comey acknowledged that Dylann Roof should not have been able to purchase the gun police say he used in the Charleston, S.C., church massacre.

Comey said an arrest record detailing Roof's past drug arrest by the Columbia, S.C., Police Department was not included in materials reviewed by the FBI's National Instant Check System, which performs criminal background investigations on gun purchasers in 30 states. The contents of the record, the FBI director said, would have prohibited the the shooter's purchase of the .45-caliber handgun allegedly used in the church attack, which left nine dead.