Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) on Friday called for FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign after revelations the bureau failed to act on a tip about the alleged perpetrator of the deadly shooting at a Florida high school on Wednesday.
“The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable,” said Scott in a statement. “The FBI Director needs to resign.”
Scott’s demand comes after the FBI said Friday that it did not follow its own “protocols” in handling an anonymous tip that the suspected shooter, who was expelled from the school for disciplinary issues, could pose a danger to students.
The FBI said the tip, which raised concerns over the teenager’s gun ownership and the possibility of a school shooting, never made it to the FBI’s Miami field office.
“Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Seventeen innocent people are dead and acknowledging a mistake isn’t going to cut it. An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain,” Scott said. “The families will spend a lifetime wondering how this could happen, and an apology will never give them the answers they desperately need.”
Wray said in a statement that the bureau was working to get to the bottom of the lapse. He said the FBI regrets “the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
“We are still investigating the facts. I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public,” he said.
President Trump said he will make a Friday visit to Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were killed and 14 others were injured by the alleged gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.
Cruz was a former student of the school who was expelled. He has confessed to the shootings. While having no criminal record, Cruz was known in school for regularly having disciplinary issues.
Cruz had posted pictures of weapons and dead animals online and may have once commented on a YouTube video that he was “going to be a professional school shooter,” though the FBI did not verify the comment at the time.