PARKLAND, Fla. _ Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz had been known to local authorities, including law enforcement and the school district, before he committed the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.
About 20 calls about Cruz came to the Broward Sheriff's Office over the past few years, Israel said at a news conference late Friday afternoon.
The sheriff provided no details on the calls, saying some of them may have resulted in the dispatch of a deputy, and others not. But he said the department will investigate what happened with them.
"Every one of these calls for service will be looked at and scrutinized," he said. "If we find out that one of our deputies or call takers could have done something better, or was remiss, I'll handle it accordingly."
When Cruz, who had been expelled from the school for disciplinary problems, came on campus Wednesday, Israel said, school security personnel tried to contact him.
"The school certainly knew about him, our school resource deputies knew about him," Israel said. "As soon as he came onto to the campus, I understand that the security guards tried to contact him. I'm not going to go into any more of that know because we're trying to look at videos and piece that together."
Asked whether the shooter had targeted any particular people, the sheriff said, "We have no reason to believe that right now."
Robert Lasky, special agent in charge of the Miami field office, also at the press conference, addressed the news that the FBI had received a tip last month that Cruz may be threatening to commit a school shooting. He said the tip never reached the Miami field office.
"On behalf of myself and over 1,000 employees of the Miami field office, we truly regret any additional pain that this has caused," he said. "The men and women who work in the Miami field office are part of this community. We walk the same streets, our children attend the same schools, to include Stoneman Douglas. We worship the same places. We are part of this community. As this community hurts, so do we."
