Inquiry found Florida suspect was no danger

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February 18, 2018 2:43 AM

A Florida social services agency conducted an in-home investigation of Nikolas Cruz after he exhibited troubling behavior nearly a year and a half before he shot and killed 17 people at his former high school in Florida, a state report shows.

The agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families, had been alerted to posts on Snapchat of Cruz cutting his arms and expressing interest in buying a gun, according to the report.

But after visiting and questioning Cruz at his home, the department determined he was at low risk of harming himself or others.

The report is the latest indication that Cruz was repeatedly identified by local and federal agencies as a troubled young man with violent tendencies.

The FBI conceded Friday that it had failed to investigate a tip called into a hotline last month by a person close to Cruz identifying him as a gun owner intent on killing people, possibly at a school. The police were called to Cruz’s house many times for disturbances over several years.

Cruz also worried officials at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, who on at least one occasion alerted a mobile crisis unit to get him emergency counseling, according to the state report.

Broward County Public Schools disciplinary records obtained Saturday by The New York Times show Cruz had a long history of fights with teachers, and was frequently accused of using profane language with school staff.

He was referred for a “threat assessment” in January 2017, the last entry in his record, two months after the Department of Children and Families closed its separate investigation into Cruz’s worrisome behavior.

Howard Finkelstein, the Broward County public defender, whose office is representing Cruz, said the report was further evidence that Cruz needed serious help long before the shooting, but did not get enough of it.

“This kid exhibited every single known red flag, from killing animals to having a cache of weapons to disruptive behavior to saying he wanted to be a school shooter,” Finkelstein said. “If this isn’t a person who should have gotten someone’s attention, I don’t know who is. This was a multisystem failure.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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