Investigating why the FBI didn't look into Nikolas Cruz
Rep. Andy Biggs, (R-Ariz.), on the investigation into the Florida school shooting.
In the Jan. 5 tip received by the FBI on Nikolas Cruz, a female caller claimed that the 19-year-old school shooter was “so outraged” and she feared he would “get into a school and just shoot the place up,” according to call transcripts viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The call was placed by a person close to Cruz through the FBI’s Public Access Line (PAL) tip line last month to report concerns of his erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts. The bureau admitted to receiving the call from the unidentified woman.
The woman told the operator that she knew Cruz was “going to explode” and wanted a “clear conscience” if he “just starts shooting places up,” The Journal reported.
In the call, she reportedly said she’d previously flagged authorities to concerning Instagram posts in which Cruz allegedly claimed to want to kill himself. The woman said she didn’t know the status of that investigation but since then, Cruz had allegedly “switched it to he wants to kill people,” she told the operator, according to The Journal. She reportedly gave authorities his social media usernames.
Suspect Nikolas Cruz appeared in court in Florida on Feb. 19. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
“It’s alarming to see these pictures and to know what he’s capable of doing and what could happen,” the caller said. “He’s [been] thrown out of all these schools because he would pick up a chair and just throw it at somebody, a teacher or a student, because he didn’t like the way they were talking to him.”
“Something is gonna happen,” she said. “Because he’s, he doesn’t have the mental capacity. He can’t, he’s so outraged if someone talks to him about certain things.”
The woman also told of Cruz’s alleged interest in hunting knives and how he would cut up animals, including frogs and birds, according to the outlet.
One time, “he brought the bird into the house,” she said on the call, and reportedly started dissecting it on his mother’s counter. When his mother probed him about it, he allegedly said, ‘I want to see what’s inside,’” The Journal reported.
FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING TIMELINE
“That to me would be a red flag,” the caller reportedly said.
The woman also reportedly feared that Cruz would use a large sum of money she claimed he was set to acquire, allegedly from a life insurance policy, to purchase guns. She claimed he also dressed as a ninja or member of ISIS, The Journal reported.
Not all of the woman’s details have been confirmed, The Journal said.
Cruz confessed to opening fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day. Seventeen people were killed in the shooting spree.
Regarding the tip, the FBI said in a statement that the information “should have been assessed as a potential threat to life" and that “protocols were not followed for the information received by the PAL on Jan. 5.”
"Under normal protocol, this information should have been provided to the Miami field office," FBI special agent Robert Lasky said during a news conference on Feb. 16. "The FBI is still investigating the facts of this situation. We will conduct an in-depth review of our procedures."
Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.
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