Florida school shooting: The FBI said it was warned about suspect Nikolas Cruz but failed to act on the tip - The Washington Post

Florida school shooting: The FBI said it was warned about suspect Nikolas Cruz but failed to act on the tip - The Washington Post

The FBI said Friday that more than a month before the shooting rampage at a South Florida high school, the bureau received a warning that the 19-year-old charged in the massacre might carry out an attack at a school — but then investigators failed to act on it.

The startling disclosure came two days after police say Nikolas Cruz marched into his former high school in Parkland, Fla., and gunned down 17 people, most of them teenagers. In a statement, the FBI said it received a tip on Jan. 5 from “a person close to Nikolas Cruz” reporting concerns about him.

This person, who was not identified, told the FBI’s public tip line “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 bureau said.

Such a warning should have been investigated “as a potential threat to life,” triggering investigative efforts in the local FBI field office, but “these protocols were not followed” and no further inquiries were made, the bureau said in a statement.