Tipsheet

FBI Deputy Director: 'It Would Have Been Nice to Try' Following Protocol Before Parkland Shooting

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  March 14, 2018 12:15 PM

"We made mistakes here," admitted Acting Deputy Director of the FBI David Bowdich. "No question about that.”

Bowdich appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday to answer questions about the FBI's failure to take proper steps before a 19-year-old mentally disturbed gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month.

That was only one of Bowdich's admissions. Asked if the FBI had alerted local law enforcement in Parkland about Nikolas Cruz, he noted they had not.

“I don’t know why the call taker did not do so," he said. "She conferred with her supervisor and made some sort of a presentation about what was contained in that call, there was discussion about the fact that the local department had been notified. You’re absolutely correct senator that the call was very explicit, however, they made a decision to close it, no lead value and no call was made to the local jurisdiction.”

Still, he is unsure that they could have prevented the shooting even if they had followed protocol to a T.

“That said even had we done everything right I’m not sure we could have stopped this act, but it would have been nice to try," Bowdich said. "It sure would have been nice for our investigator to sit down in front of Mr. Cruz and actually have that discussion.”

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