Florida Gov. Rick Scott Demands FBI Release Details on Failure to Investigate School Shooter

By Sarah Rumpf | 8:30 PM on February 19, 2018

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Today, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release the details surrounding the January 5, 2018 tip they received regarding Nikolas Cruz and his threats to conduct a school shooting, and the agency’s failure to follow up on that tip.

Last Friday, Scott had called for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray, after news broke that the FBI failed to follow their own protocol after receiving that tip last month, which included specific 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.”

The FBI’s own protocols called for a tip of this nature to be “assessed as a potential threat to life,” and forwarded to the Miami field office. This was not done and apparently no other action was taken to follow upon the tip.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has also criticized the internal review Wray announced as insufficient and called for immediate Congressional investigations.

In a statement released by his office, Scott called the FBI’s inaction “inexcusable” and said that the victims’ families “deserve answers now.” Scott expressed skepticism that internal investigations would get results, and reiterated his call for Wray to resign:

Last week, our state and nation was shocked to learn of the FBI’s inexcusable inaction after receiving a tip informing them of Cruz’s desire to carry out a school shooting. The FBI’s failure to initiate an investigation raises many questions, and the victims’ families deserve answers now. Today, I am calling on the FBI to immediately release all details surrounding the Bureau’s failure to act on a tip it received, including all details and protocols.

Last week, I called on Director Wray to resign, and the FBI should release all records involving this terrible error. People in Washington tend to want to investigate, hold hearings and put off what truly needs to be done. Instead, someone needs to be held accountable.

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