Ignored Warnings in Florida Shooting Just the Latest FBI Screw-up
A Fluke or a Repeating Pattern?
In the aftermath of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the public learned that the FBI had been alerted twice to the potential danger of shooter Nikolas Cruz. But this is not the first time the FBI screwed up royally.
The FBI is one of the few institutions that, no matter how often it screws up in major ways, no matter that there is something deeply wrong with the place, never seems to be held accountable.
WhoWhatWhy often covers situations where the FBI knew something in advance before heinous crimes were committed — and then apparently did nothing.
Many of those are so extremely weird that no one knows what to make of the phenomenon, and, frankly, people just don’t want to contemplate whether we are looking at gross incompetence, misplaced priorities, or something worse.
It is with that as background that we contemplate the latest revelation: the FBI had been warned ahead of time that Nikolas Cruz, the alleged Miami-area high school mass murderer, was armed and dangerous and likely to take action.
On January 5, the FBI received a tip from someone close to Cruz. It provided information about his “gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of his conducting a school shooting.” But the FBI failed to follow up and investigate the claims.
That wasn’t the only red flag.
Back in September, a man reported a YouTube comment from a “nikolas cruz” that said “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI looked into it, but reportedly were unable to determine the identity of the commenter.
Now, what about that pattern of screw-ups?
- What Five ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Cases Tell Us About FBI Tactics
- The FBI’s Increasingly Odd Silence on Boston Bombing
- Why FBI Can’t Tell All on Trump, Russia
- More Evidence of Spook Interaction With Boston Marathon Bomber?
- Fort Lauderdale Shooting: FBI Involvement in Another Act of Violence
- More 9/11 FBI Coverup Evidence Emerges
- Open Letter to John Podesta: This Is Your FBI Wakeup Call
- Did the FBI Drop the Ball on Pearl Harbor?
- Another Terrorist, Another Past Connection with the FBI
- Classic Who: FBI, Snipers & Occupy
- San Bernardino: What Did Gov Know About Shooters?
- Protecting FBI Whistleblowers from Retaliation
- Missing Evidence of Prior FBI Relationship with Boston Bomber
- Congress Unites to Demand Answers on Deadly Incompetence of FBI
- FBI: Hanging By A Hair
- FBI Had Direct Link to Bin Laden — in 1993
Related front page panorama photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from FBI building (Travel Aficionado / Flickr – CC BY-NC 2.0) and mug shot.
