PARKLAND, Florida: 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淭he caller provided information about Cruz鈥檚 gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,鈥� it said.
The tip appeared unrelated to a previously reported YouTube comment in which a person named Nikolas Cruz said, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to be a professional school shooter.鈥� The FBI has acknowledged getting that tip as well but failing to connect it to Cruz, who is accused of carrying out Wednesday鈥檚 mass shooting with an AR-15-style assault rifle.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said FBI Director Christopher Wray should step down over the agency鈥檚 mishandling of the tip.
鈥淭he FBI鈥檚 failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable,鈥� Scott said in a statement. 鈥淲e constantly promote 鈥榮ee something, say something,鈥� and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act.鈥�
Other Republicans including Florida Senator Marco Rubio also harshly criticized the FBI and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had ordered a review of the bureau and Department of Justice procedures following the shooting.
At the funeral for massacre victim Meadow Pollack, an 18-year-old senior who had been headed to university, family friend Jeff Richman expressed disbelief at the FBI fumble.
鈥淭he FBI apologized? Tell that to families,鈥� said Richman, 53, an advertising executive who lives in Parkland. 鈥淓verybody always tells you 鈥榳hen you see something, say something.鈥� Well, here people were seeing something and saying something and it still happened.鈥�
The FBI said the information on Cruz should have been forwarded to its Miami field office and investigated, but that never happened.
鈥淲e have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy,鈥� Wray said in a statement.
The killings in the affluent Miami suburb of Parkland have raised concerns about potential failures in school security and stirred the ongoing US debate about gun rights, which are protected by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.
The sheriff of Broward County where the shootings took place said in a Friday press conference that authorities had received around 20 鈥渃alls for service鈥� in the last few years regarding Cruz.
The sheriff, Scott Israel, said not all of the calls had resulted in the dispatch of law enforcement officers but added that his office would scrutinize them all to see if they were properly handled.
Leaders including US President Donald Trump have linked mental illness to Wednesday鈥檚 violence, suggesting that it was the public鈥檚 responsibility to warn officials of such dangers.
Cruz, who had been expelled for undisclosed disciplinary reasons from the school where he allegedly staged his attack, made a brief court appearance on Thursday and was ordered held without bond.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a broken human being,鈥� his lawyer, public defender Melissa McNeill, told reporters. 鈥淗e鈥檚 sad, he鈥檚 mournful, he鈥檚 remorseful.鈥�
Wednesday鈥檚 shooting ranks as the greatest loss of life from school gun violence since the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first-graders and six adult educators dead.
Broward County officials have called for the demolition of the school building where the killings took place.
鈥淣o parents are going to want to send their children back into that annex, no one is going to want to go there,鈥� said Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine.
Trump tweeted on Friday morning that he would leave for Florida later in the day to meet people whose 鈥渓ives had been totally shattered鈥� by the shooting.
The vice mayor of Broward County, a strongly Democratic area, blasted any visit by Trump, saying Republicans had failed to back common sense gun laws and had rolled back measures that made it harder for severely mentally ill people to buy weapons.
鈥淗im coming here is absolutely absurd, and he鈥檚 a hypocrite,鈥� Mark Bogen told CNN in an interview following Trump鈥檚 tweet.