Thursday, February 15, 2018

Report: FBI Was Warned About School Shooter

Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube v-logger noticed an alarming comment left on one of his videos. "I'm going to be a professional school shooter," said a user named Nikolas Cruz.

According to BuzzFeed, the YouTuber, 36-year-old Ben Bennight, alerted the FBI, emailing a screenshot of the comment to the bureau's tips account. He also flagged the comment to YouTube, which removed it from the video.

Agents with the bureau's Mississippi field office got back to him "immediately," Bennight said, and conducted an in-person interview the following day, on Sept. 25.

"They came to my office the next morning and asked me if I knew anything about the person," Bennight told BuzzFeed News. "I didn't. They took a copy of the screenshot and that was the last I heard from them."

FBI agents contacted Bennight again Wednesday, after a 19-year-old named Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, killing at least 17 people.

In the wake of the deadly shooting, questions have emerged over whether officials and acquaintances had missed warning signs about the alleged shooter, a former student who was expelled from the high school last year for disciplinary reasons.

Classmates, relatives, and neighbors have described Cruz as a troubled "loner" who often talked about guns and flaunted his obsession with weapons on his social media accounts. And Jim Gard, a math teacher at the school, told the Miami Herald that the teen had previously been identified as a potential threat to other students.


Networks Scramble

Broadcast and cable news networks are in continuing coverage of an active shooter situation at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in Broward County.

According to TVNewser, CNN’s Brooke Baldwin reported the news at 2:55 p.m., FNC’s Dana Perino reported the news at 2:56, and MSNBC’s Katy Tur began MSNBC’s coverage at 2:58 p.m.

On Fox News, Shep Smith took over for Perino at 3 p.m. He welcomed in Fox TV stations at 3:15 p.m. ET. Smith’s well-versed in the area. He used to report for WSVN in Miami, and is someone who, sadly, has covered more school shootings than anyone else on cable news right now.

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