A person close to Cruz contacted the FBI on January 5 to report concerns about him, the FBI said. But the bureau did not appropriately follow established protocols in following up on the tip.
February 16, 2018
‘FBI Statement on the Shooting in Parkland, Florida’
On January 5, 2018, a person close to Nikolas Cruz contacted the FBI’s Public Access Line (PAL) tipline to report concerns about him. The caller provided 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.
Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life. The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami Field Office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken.
We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information received by the PAL on January 5. The information was not provided to the Miami Field Office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said:
“We are still investigating the facts. I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public. It’s up to all Americans to be vigilant, and when members of the public contact us with concerns, we must act properly and quickly.
“We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy. All of the men and women of the FBI are dedicated to keeping the American people safe, and are relentlessly committed to improving all that we do and how we do it.”
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-statement-on-the-shooting-in-parkland-florida
Could he have been stopped had they investigated further? I think not.....He'd already been dozens of times by the authorities and countless others and had broken no laws...and no record of doing so.
So the question still remains.....can the authorities stop someone without them breaking laws?..better could they have stopped THIS shooter?
I say no.....and if people think otherwise just how are you going to do that?...arrest him for no crime he's committed? Institutionalize him when he was already in specialized schooling? So just how?