FBI was warned about
accused Florida gunman but unable to locate him
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/florida-community-seeks-answers-after-deadly-school-rampage-9964082
Islam Is Not Terrorist by virtue of Surah Al Maidah, Verses 32 [
5:32 ]. And who is the real terrorist now?
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation was warned last year about an ominous online
comment by the 19-year-old man accused of killing 17 people at his former high
school but was unable to locate him, an agent said on Thursday.
Students
mourn during a community prayer vigil for victims of yesterday's shooting at
nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, at Parkridge Church in
Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S., February 15, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
PARKLAND, Fla.: The Federal Bureau of Investigation was
warned last year about an ominous online comment by the 19-year-old man accused
of killing 17 people at his former high school but was unable to locate him, an
agent said on Thursday.
Authorities said the ex-student, identified as Nikolas Cruz,
walked into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, near Miami,
on Wednesday and opened fire with an AR-15-style assault rifle in the
second-deadliest shooting at a public school in U.S. history.
He was named as a member of a white nationalist militia
group and may have left warning signs on social media. A person with his name
wrote a comment last year under a YouTube video that read "I'm going to be
a professional school shooter." The man who posted the video, Ben
Bennight, a Mississippi bail bondsman, was alarmed and contacted the FBI,
according to a video he posted online late Wednesday.
"No other information was included with that comment
which would indicate a time location or the true identity of the person who
made the comment," FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Lasky told reporters
on Thursday. Investigators were unable to find the commenter, he added.
The FBI is conducting an extensive review of how it handled
that tip to see if mistakes were made, a federal law enforcement official told
Reuters.
Wednesday's shooting was the 18th in a U.S. school this
year, according to gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. It stirred the
long-simmering U.S. debate on the right to bear arms, which are protected by
the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
President Donald Trump addressed the shooting in a White House speech that emphasized school safety and mental health while avoiding any mention of gun policy.
"It is not enough to simply take actions that make us
feel like we are making a difference," Trump said at the White House.
"We must actually make that difference."
Broward County schools superintendent Robert Runcie called
for action on gun laws.
"Now is the time for this country to have a real
conversation on sensible gun control laws in this country," Runcie told a
news conference.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives criticized
the Republican leadership for refusing to take up legislation on tightening
background checks for prospective gun buyers.
"It's appalling," Representative Mike Thompson
told a news conference. "Thirty people every day are killed by someone
using a gun, and the best we can do is say we need more information?"
The Republican-controlled Congress last year revoked
Obama-era regulations meant to make it harder for those with severe mental
illness to pass FBI background checks for guns, saying the rule deprived the
mentally ill of their gun rights.
At least one member of Trump's cabinet called for
Congressional action.
"Personally I think the gun violence, it's a tragedy what
we've seen yesterday, and I urge Congress to look at these issues,"
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers on Thursday.
TIES TO WHITE NATIONALISM
Cruz participated in paramilitary training with a Florida
white nationalist militia called the Republic of Florida, a leader of the group
said on Thursday.
"He had some involvement with the Clearwater Republic
of Florida cell at some point," Jordan Jereb said in a telephone
interview. Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
Authorities said Cruz wore a gas mask as he stalked into the
school carrying a rifle, ammunition cartridges and smoke grenades. He then
pulled a fire alarm, prompting students and staff to pour from classrooms into
hallways, according to Florida's two U.S. senators, who were brief by federal
authorities.
He loved guns and had been expelled for unspecified
disciplinary reasons, police and former classmates said.
Cruz made a brief appearance in court on Thursday. Dressed
in an orange prison jumpsuit and with his hands shackled to his waist, he kept
his eyes directed on the ground while he was ordered to remain in custody. He
spoke only two words, "Yes, ma'am," when the judge asked him to
confirm his name.
Cruz had recently moved in with another family after his
mother's death in November, according to Jim Lewis, a lawyer representing the
family and local media, bringing his AR-15 along with his other belongings.
The family believed Cruz was depressed, but attributed that
to his mother's death, not mental illness.
People who live on same street as Cruz said he alarmed them
by shooting squirrels and rabbits in the neighbourhood as well as chickens
being raised in a nearby backyard. Several times a year, they observed law
enforcement officials at his house.
"Killing animals was no problem for this young
man," said Rhoda Roxburgh, 45, who lived on the block for several years
and whose parents continue to live there.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Peter Szekely in
New York, David Alexander, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Mark Hosenball and Susan Heavey in
Washington, Jon Herskovitz in Austin and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing
by Scott Malone; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)
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