On the recordMay 17, 2018
Imagine if someone came up and introduced himself to you and said: ``Hi, I am Nick. I am a school shooter.'' According to those who knew him, Nikolas Cruz, the deranged Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School murderer, was known to do just that. He attacked a neighbor's car. He shot their animals. He was known to vandalize and steal property. He made alarming social media posts and was expelled from school. There were multiple reports to local police and the FBI, and many other egregious red flags waving long before 17 innocent lives were taken and another 17 wounded on February 14, 2018. In the 7 years leading up to the shooting, police visited Cruz' home 39 times--incredibly. Mr. Speaker, the Parkland shooting should have never happened. Every warning sign was there. They were not missed. Officials just failed to connect the dots. I wish that I could say that this failure is unique to Parkland, but, sadly, it is not. Nearly 20 years ago, high school junior Brooks Brown came across a website where a fellow classmate threatened to kill him and his family. Brown's parents alerted the local police, who were already aware of concerning behaviors from that website's author and another involved student. Within only a few months, these same students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, would murder 13 and wound 24 Columbine High School students in what has been called the first modern mass shooting. Again, the red flags were detected, but the appropriate steps were not taken.…
