Last fall, the FBI received a warning about a plausible school shooting threat from a YouTube user who has the same name as the suspect involved in the bloody massacre at the Parkland, Florida school. In September, YouTube user Ben Bennight saw a comment left on one of his videos that said: "I'm going to be a professional school shooter."
According to CNN, law enforcement originally said the FBI received multiple reports regarding threats made by the shooter.
Later in the day on Thursday, another law enforcement official said the FBI only received one report, regarding the threat made by Nikolas Cruz. It was later revealed that this information was not delivered to the local law enforcement community.
YouTube user posted alarming comment on a video
Bennight attempted to send a screenshot of the comment to the FBI to an email address he believed was a tip line. However, the email address was not valid. Bennight later phoned the FBI about the comment. YouTube has since taken down the comment.
Yahoo News reports that FBI agents from the Mississippi field office contacted Bennight and interviewed him in-person.
That was the last time Bennight spoke to the FBI, until the day after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
A Miami FBI special agent confirmed that the agency received a tip about the threatening comment. The agent said that no information was included that would pinpoint a time, location or identity of the user who made the comment. Immediately after Cruz was arrested, Bennight received a call from the FBI's Miami office and wanted more information on the September incident.
YouTube vlogger believed more could have been done
Bennight appeared on CNN and said that he believes that if more time and effort was put into determining who the username was tied to, the FBI may have been able to put this guy on their radar.
FBI officials are still not saying whether the account really does belong to Cruz.
Classmates, neighbors, and others consider Cruz to be a troubled loner, who often spoke about guns and took to social media as well. Jim Gard, who is a teacher at the school said that the teen was previously determined to be a potential threat to other students. Broward Mayor confirmed that Cruz had been in mental health treatment up until almost two years ago.
School officials confirmed that Cruz had been disciplined multiple times over the past few years by Broward County Public School for fighting and disruptive behavior. Lawyers for Cruz have already spoken to people that know him well and already appearing to plan a mental health defense.