Questions about actions at top linger after Florida shootings

FBI actions rate serious concern.

Another school shooting—another time causing all of us to ask why. Anyone with children or grandchildren in school must have taken pause last week when news of the Parkland, Fla., shootings started pouring in.
    There is plenty to debate concerning gun control, mental health and school security, but mistakes by the FBI in this situation tops my list of worries right now. Rightly so, the U.S. Justice Department is now reviewing the FBI’s actions.
    Not once, but twice, was the FBI contacted about Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who killed many of his former classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And those are just the calls we know about.
    First, last September, a Mississippi bail bondsman who uses YouTube, alerted the FBI of a comment he came across on this channel reportedly from Cruz— “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” According to the bail bondsman, the person identified himself as “nikolas cruz.”
    The FBI said they were unable to identify who made the comment.
    Then, on Jan. 12 this year, only five and a half weeks before the shootings, an anonymous caller alerted the FBI’s Public Access Line in West Virginia. The caller was concerned about Cruz’s guns, his desire to kill, what he called “erratic behavior” and social media posts.
    The FBI admitted two days after the Valentine’s Day shootings that established protocols were not followed. An investigation was not conducted after this second contact with the FBI.
    Ever since 9-11, Americans have been urged by authorities to be observant and report suspicious and concerning behavior. That’s what happened here, in two instances we know of, and nothing was done.
    Hopefully, this huge mistake by the FBI will not keep people from doing what those two callers did. But some of the “professionals” in the FBI better step up and get very serious about doing their jobs.
    There is too much innocent life at stake.

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