It appears that Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS shooter Nikolas Cruz was known to the FBI as a threat back in September 2017 thanks to a YouTuber who alerted law enforcement over a comment left on a video:
The FBI was Warned About A School Shooting Threat From Nikolas Cruz In September https://t.co/wqwMlqq5JC
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 15, 2018
From BuzzFeed:
Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube vlogger 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.
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 a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida, killing at least 17 people.
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The rest here.
The YouTuber, Ben Bennight, posted a video yesterday saying the FBI “just left my house”:
A YouTuber named "BentheBondsman" says the FBI talked to him today because user named NikolasCruz left comment on his video videos last year saying he was "going to be a professional school shooter." The comment was reported to the FBI/YouTube at the time: https://t.co/JdH0bGUeCI
— Tom Cleary (@tomwcleary) February 15, 2018
And it sounds like Cruz’s emotional and mental issues were well known as well:
The Parkland shooter was known to be troubled … he loved showing off his guns … his mom tried using 911 and police to "talk sense into him." And kids at school viewed him as a future mass shooting. And he had access to a war weapon. Come on, America. https://t.co/sk8ord8ReU
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) February 15, 2018
The Broward County Sheriff reported last night that Cruz had been kicked out of Douglas HS last year:
Sheriff Scott Israel on shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz: "He is 19 years old. He was born in 1998, in September. He was a former student of Douglas High School. He got expelled for disciplinary reasons. I don't know the specifics." https://t.co/1Y5NBGZMdE pic.twitter.com/50arcfyLuy
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 14, 2018
Cruz reportedly purchased his rifle legally:
Report: Florida shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz passed background check for AR-15 https://t.co/ECazYpCJYp
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 15, 2018
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Related:
Tragic: Hero football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS has died https://t.co/CKTmUstBj7
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 15, 2018
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