By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
The FBI admitted today that it failed to act on a warning in January that suspected mass killer Nikolas Cruz was armed and may carry out a school shooting, the first indication that federal authorities missed an opportunity to prevent the attack on a Florida high school.
The tipster, who was close to Cruz, informed the FBI that Cruz had a “desire to kill people” and there was “the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” the bureau acknowledged in a statement.
The FBI said the information wasn’t acted on and should have been assessed and forward to the bureau’s field office.
“We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information received,” the bureau said. “The information was not provided to the F.B.I. Miami field office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time.”
The bureau also was tipped off in September of a YouTube comment from a user named Nikolas Cruze who boasted that he was “going to be a professional school shooter.”
The FBI is reviewing how it handled the tip, but acknowledged that agents never tracked down Cruz to interview him.
