President Heading to Florida to Console Shooting Victims and Their Families
Vigil Held Last Night for Victims
UPDATE: The FBI says it failed to investigate a specific report in January that Nikolas Cruz could be plotting a school shooting.
The agency said Friday that the tip should’ve been investigated thoroughly because it was a potential threat to life. Cruz has been arrested and charged with killing 17 people at a high school earlier this week.
On Jan. 5, a tipster who was close to Cruz called the FBI and provided information about Cruz’s guns, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts. The FBI says the caller expressed concerns Cruz could attack a school.
The FBI was also notified about a comment on a YouTube video posted by a “Nikolas Cruz” last year. It investigated the comment but did not determine who made it.
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WASHINGTON, D.C.-President Donald Trump says he’s heading to Florida, where a community is in mourning after a shooting at a high school killed 17 people.
In a Friday morning tweet, Trump said “I will be leaving for Florida today to meet with some of the bravest people on earth, but people whose lives have been totally shattered.”
He also said he’ll be working with Congress “on many fronts.”
Authorities said Nikolas Cruz, a volatile 19-year-old who had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, opened fire there Wednesday, killing 17 people and wounding more than a dozen others. Cruz was ordered held without bond Thursday.
At least 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil near the school Thursday night, some openly sobbing as the victims’ names were read aloud. At one point, people began chanting, “No more guns! No more guns!”
Some held flowers. Others held signs asking for action, including gun control, against school violence.
“Kids don’t need guns. No guns under 21,” read one sign.
Authorities said Cruz, who became an orphan when his mother died in November and had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, legally bought the AR-15 assault weapon he used to kill all of the victims.
Cruz’s lawyer called him a “broken human being” and Executive Chief Public Defender Gordon Weeks said he was under a suicide watch.
