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Quote:Florida school shooter 'sympathized with Syrian terrorists,' sold knives from lunchbox, friend says

“He talked about killing our parents, our friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” Lopez said. “He would talk about how he sympathized with Syrian terrorists and that people who opposed them should be killed. He posted pictures of like 15 or more firearms just on his bed. Like this was normal. Like you could even see a hamper in the background. That's how ordinary this was to him."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/20/flo...-says.html

Quote:Another of the woman's stunning revelations: Cruz was obsessed with ISIS.

"He's so into ISIS and, um, I'm afraid this is so something's gonna happen," she said, describing how Cruz would post pictures of himself dressed up as an Islamic terrorist.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...-1.3838211

I know the fbi can't follow up on every lead they get, but this one was pretty detailed and should have been quite concerning IMO. Massive failure by law enforcement.

I would think purchasing a large array of weaponry and ammunition in a short period of time should throw up some red flags to law enforcement as well.

It always amazes me how a person who is apparently not wealthy can purchase this many weapons and ammo. Where did he get the money? A typical high school job will not purchase this much hardware.
Was he on some kind of public assistance? Did anyone give him the money to buy these weapons and ammo?
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

(02-24-2018 09:35 AM)Niner National Wrote:  I know the fbi can't follow up on every lead they get, but this one was pretty detailed and should have been quite concerning IMO. Massive failure by law enforcement.

I would think purchasing a large array of weaponry and ammunition in a short period of time should throw up some red flags to law enforcement as well.

Uhhhhhh, I beg to differ. Just purchasing weapons isn't necessarily a red flag. For instance, I'm a collector of a specific type of rifle that was produced back in the 1960's and have purchased the collections of others.....each rifle requiring a back ground check as they were mailed to me.

Here's how I think something like this should have played out.

Caller: This is Jane Doe and I'm calling about X person. I'm concerned because he's been talking a lot about ISIS and killing people, etc. He really scares me.

FBI: Okay Jane, give me some specifics were does X person live, approximate age, do you know if he owns any weapons, anything else about him that you think would be helpful.

Once that's done FBI verifies said person exists and exactly where he lives. Then FBI calls the local sherriff.

FBI: Sheriff X, this is FBI agent X calling from the local FBI field office. We've received some information on a specific person and wish to verify if he's been on your radar. Here's the data.........call me back asap with an update please.

FBI then confirms any weapons purchases.

30 minutes later.

Sheriff X: Yeah, FBI agent X, I've checked our records. Over the last 5 years we've been called to that person's house 39 TIMES for x, y, and z. 39 TIMES (which was the actual case) for the following complaints........

Now, in my humble opinion, THAT is a red flag.

As a firearms collector, I obviously communicate with many other who have similar interests. There are a lot of us out there and we collect not only firearms, but ammunition as well. Simply collecting firearms and/or hoarding ammunition is not necessarily a red flag of anything other than someone enjoying a hobby.

(02-24-2018 10:00 AM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  It always amazes me how a person who is apparently not wealthy can purchase this many weapons and ammo. Where did he get the money? A typical high school job will not purchase this much hardware.
Was he on some kind of public assistance? Did anyone give him the money to buy these weapons and ammo?
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Quote:Over the course of the January call, which lasted more than 13 minutes, the tipster warned the F.B.I. that Mr. Cruz had been adrift since his mother’s death in November. She said that Mr. Cruz had “the mental capacity of a 12 to a 14 year old.” The tipster provided four Instagram accounts for Mr. Cruz, which she said showed photos of sliced up animals and the firearms he had amassed. The caller, whose name was redacted on the transcript, said Mr. Cruz had used money from a life insurance policy after his mother’s death to purchase the weapons.

“If you go onto his Instagram pages, you’ll see all the guns,” the woman said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/fb...-cruz.html

This is the quote that pisses me off:

Quote:The F.B.I. also received a tip from a bail bondsman in Mississippi in September about a suspicious comment left on his YouTube channel by a “nikolas cruz” who professed a desire to be a “professional school shooter.” The bondsman notified YouTube, which promptly took down the comment.

The F.B.I. said it did not have enough information to determine if “nikolas cruz” was a real name or a pseudonym, and the bureau said it could not justify keeping a file on the tip open and closed it in October.

WTF? They've got a pile of tips from people who know the kid and have called them with concerns but they can't prove if the name is real???? They can figure out the names of a bunch of Russian trolls operating out of St. Petersburg RUSSIA, but can't track down this kid in S. Florida?

Until heads start rolling when stuff like this happens, it is going to keep happening.

I would not be shocked to find that some bureaucrat with a gun control fetish read this and thought, “If he shot up a school, yes some folks would die, but that would spark a frenzy for gun controls, so let’s just sit back and see what happens.” Actually I would be shocked if that information ever saw the light of day. Good bureaucrats know how to circle the wagons.

(02-24-2018 10:00 AM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  It always amazes me how a person who is apparently not wealthy can purchase this many weapons and ammo. Where did he get the money? A typical high school job will not purchase this much hardware.
Was he on some kind of public assistance? Did anyone give him the money to buy these weapons and ammo?
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

His mom had money, very nice house. His inheritance was well north of a million I think.

(02-24-2018 10:00 AM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  It always amazes me how a person who is apparently not wealthy can purchase this many weapons and ammo. Where did he get the money? A typical high school job will not purchase this much hardware.
Was he on some kind of public assistance? Did anyone give him the money to buy these weapons and ammo?
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Those are excellent questions.

Has anyone else asked this? Gotten an answer.

I hadn’t even gone down that route, though I have heard he was due for a significant sum at age 22.

Was the “adoptive” couple floating him cash looking for a payout in a few years?

As always, follow the money...

(02-24-2018 01:59 PM)TechRocks Wrote:  

(02-24-2018 10:00 AM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  It always amazes me how a person who is apparently not wealthy can purchase this many weapons and ammo. Where did he get the money? A typical high school job will not purchase this much hardware.
Was he on some kind of public assistance? Did anyone give him the money to buy these weapons and ammo?
It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Quote:Over the course of the January call, which lasted more than 13 minutes, the tipster warned the F.B.I. that Mr. Cruz had been adrift since his mother’s death in November. She said that Mr. Cruz had “the mental capacity of a 12 to a 14 year old.” The tipster provided four Instagram accounts for Mr. Cruz, which she said showed photos of sliced up animals and the firearms he had amassed. The caller, whose name was redacted on the transcript, said Mr. Cruz had used money from a life insurance policy after his mother’s death to purchase the weapons.

“If you go onto his Instagram pages, you’ll see all the guns,” the woman said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/fb...-cruz.html

This is the quote that pisses me off:

Quote:The F.B.I. also received a tip from a bail bondsman in Mississippi in September about a suspicious comment left on his YouTube channel by a “nikolas cruz” who professed a desire to be a “professional school shooter.” The bondsman notified YouTube, which promptly took down the comment.

The F.B.I. said it did not have enough information to determine if “nikolas cruz” was a real name or a pseudonym, and the bureau said it could not justify keeping a file on the tip open and closed it in October.

WTF? They've got a pile of tips from people who know the kid and have called them with concerns but they can't prove if the name is real???? They can figure out the names of a bunch of Russian trolls operating out of St. Petersburg RUSSIA, but can't track down this kid in S. Florida?

Yea, that one, I’d bet, is total BS. One you’s computer guys correct if I’m wrong, GTS, perhaps.

Can’t you track an IP address rather easily? Find out town, maybe even an address, then cross that with HS records? He’d already been booted from his home school, there’s gotta be a record of that somewhere.

Nik. With a K. How many them running around central Florida, that’ve been kicked out of school?!?