Florida Governor Demands FBI Release Specifics On Failure To Investigate Parkland Shooter

Florida Governor Rick Scott addresses the congregation during a Sunday service at the First United Methodist Church of Coral Springs, dedicated to the victims of the Wednesday mass shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Coral Springs, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, who is in custody, was charged with 17 counts of murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Of all the things we’re currently seeing as a result of the Parkland shooting, perhaps the most disturbing is the complete and total failure of the FBI to do an actual investigation after being tipped off to the shooter’s plans. The agency that is supposed to be the top law enforcement agency in the country was given a tip that this could happen, and they did nothing.

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I’m not the only one who wants answers.

Today, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release the details surrounding the January 5, 2018 tip they received regarding Nikolas Cruz and his threats to conduct a school shooting, and the agency’s failure to follow up on that tip.

Last Friday, Scott had called for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray, after news broke that the FBI failed to follow their own protocol after receiving that tip last month, which included specific information 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 FBI’s own protocols called for a tip of this nature to be “assessed as a potential threat to life,” and forwarded to the Miami field office. This was not done and apparently no other action was taken to follow upon the tip.

Sen. Marco Rubio has also piled on, and with good reason. He believes Wray’s decision for an internal review is insufficient, and I tend to agree. Internal reviews are rarely satisfactory. Far too often, such reviews tend to find nothing wrong. An investigation is needed, but the investigation needs to come from outside the FBI.

Meanwhile, the fact that this shooting happened because the FBI dropped the ball needs to be talked about. They had a credible tip and failed to do any investigating. Such an investigation may well have uncovered evidence of planning, something that would have been actionable. Then we’d be talking about the Parkland shooter as a would-be killer thwarted by law enforcement. I think I speak for everyone when I say that would be far, far preferable to the current discussions.

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Regardless, the FBI dropped the ball, and Gov. Scott is right to demand answers. There are 17 dead high school kids in his state, kids who look to be dead because the FBI sat on their rears and didn’t do their job.

Yes, people are upset and they want heads on proverbial platters…and possibly not-so-proverbial ones, as well. They want answers, answers that the FBI likely doesn’t want to give. Frankly, I think we all want answers. We want to know why a threat against school kids wasn’t important enough for someone to actually look into this. That should never be tolerated.

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