FBI Transcripts Reveal Chilling Details About Florida Shooter
More horrifying details have emerged regarding the deadly school shooting that claimed 17 lives earlier this month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, had been reported to the FBI multiple times before. While it was never clear just how much warning the FBI had about him, a phone transcript obtained by The Wall Street Journal paint a disturbing picture.
The transcript contributes to the narrative that the agency missed key details that could have helped prevent the tragedy. The FBI has already been criticized for overlooking the red flags attached to Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Before the revelation of the transcript, which The Associated Press also reported on, much of what the FBI missed could be chalked up to circumstantial evidence lost amid the countless other things the bureau is working on.
Now, however, the new transcripts show that the FBI should have had a much clearer view of the concern surrounding Cruz.
An unidentified female called the FBI’s Public Access Line as recently as Jan. 5 and pleaded with the bureau to act.
“It’s alarming to see (Cruz’s social media photos involving guns) and to know what he’s capable of doing and what could happen,” the woman said.
She also described Cruz’s violent tendencies at school.
“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,” she said.
“Something is gonna happen,” the woman told the FBI.
According to The Journal, she detailed how prone Cruz was to quickly losing his temper.
“Because (he) doesn’t have the mental capacity. He can’t, he’s so outraged if someone talks to him about certain things,” she said.
This wasn’t even the first time the woman had informed the FBI about Cruz. She claims she first attempted to contact the FBI after Cruz posted suicidal social media comments, which eventually changed from threats to kill himself to warnings that he might kill others.
Perhaps the most chilling part of the transcript was when the woman said she called the FBI because she wanted a “clear conscience” in case Cruz “just starts shooting places up.”
If convicted, Cruz could face the death penalty in Florida.
However, he is reportedly willing to plead guilty if it means his own life will be spared.
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