Florida Governor Rick Scott has called on FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign in the wake of an admission by the FBI that it missed a tip that may have prevented a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed seventeen students.
The FBI acknowledged earlier today that some “protocols were not followed” when a tip was submitted that warned that 19-year-old shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz had amassed weapons, written “disturbing” social media posts, and exhibited erratic behavior. That warning, reportedly made on January 5, also said that Cruz had the potential of “conducting a school shooting.”
Cruz allegedly walked into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday and began shooting. He killed seventeen students in all and wounded fourteen others. Cruz was believed to have used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the attack.
The Bureau said that due to lapses in it protocols the information was nor provided to the regional field office in Miami and “no further investigation was conducted at that time.”
“We constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act. ‘See something, say something’ is an incredibly important tool and people must have confidence in the follow-through from law enforcement… The FBI director needs to resign,” Governor Scott said.
In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the investigation into what went wrong at the FBI is ongoing. “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,” the statement read.
The FBI said that he received another trip in September when someone with a user name of “nikolas cruz” left a comment for a YouTube video that read, “Im going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI agents investigated the comment at the time but were unable to identify the identity of the person behind the post.