Gun safety groups aim to oust pro-NRA lawmakers — The Latest

When Caesar Figueroa got to the Florida school to check on his 16-year-old daughter, he saw helicopters and police officers wielding guns.

The group of friends have also called Parkland’s mayor, launched a hashtag – #NeverAgain – and gotten in touch with state legislators.

Friday (2/16) the FBI announced it failed to investigate a tip in January that Nikolas Cruz could be plotting a school shooting. Though no one was hurt, it left the student distraught.

Trump says parents he met earlier at Broward Health North Hospital are “very thankful” for the response.

Florida State Sen. Bill Galvano, who visited the third floor, said authorities told him it appeared that Cruz tried to fire point-blank out the third-floor windows at students as they were leaving the school, but the high-impact windows did not shatter.

As Americans reeled from the country’s worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago, President Donald Trump suggested the root cause of the violence was a crisis of mental health – and defied calls to address gun control. “We have safety zones, we have protocols for every single emergency, and this thing still happened”. He is charged with 17 counts of murder. The tip line received 766,888 calls in 2017. The White House denies the story calling it “fake news”, but Farrow stood by his piece to the panel, explaining his process of obtaining the story in detail.

Cruz said nothing at Monday’s hearing in Broward County Circuit Court, the first he attended in person and not via teleconference from jail. No one was hurt, but students could still have been frightened.

Ben Bennight, who sent the tip, said FBI agents from the Jackson field office interviewed him at the time – and again after the shooting.

On Snapchat, a student cowering with classmates under their desks records as the gunman, unseen, lets off more than a dozen deafening shots from the hallway or the next classroom over.

Cruz is then believed to have gone to Walmart, where he bought a drink at a Subway restaurant. “Shame on you”, she yelled, and the crowd repeated her.

He said no child should have to go to school in fear of getting killed.

The FBI has not revealed if it subpoenaed YouTube.

Unhappy there, Nikolas Cruz asked to move in with a friend’s family in northwest Broward County.

The vice president says, “then as now, our hearts were broken”.

“I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be”, Trump said.

Also Friday, mourners gathered for the first funeral for a shooting victim, packing the Star of David chapel to remember 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff.

“Him coming here is absolutely absurd, and he’s a hypocrite”, Mark Bogen told CNN in an interview following Mr Trump’s tweet.

And what about the students?

“If you’re not traumatized by this, it’s probably not a good sign”, Director of the Counseling Center Andrew King said. Or will they stick to their guns, fearing the prospect of being challenged by narrow-minded gun devotees and losing their cozy job? They are in terrible danger. The military collaborates with school systems on the training curriculum, which includes marching drills, athletic competitions and shooting teams.

I think the question surprised him a bit because he mumbled something about the need to protect his children.

He seemed like “just a mildly troubled kid who’d lost his mom” during the three months they lived together, Lewis said. Sorting through them – and determining which ones should constitute the highest priority cases – isn’t easy. “But everyone went through that phase of quiet, listening to loud music and apparently, it continued on for him”. “We need to be safe”. No decision has been made on that. Like the gun-control debate generally, this conversation predictably produces the same arguments over and over. The law effectively prevents investigators from learning if potentially dangerous people own deadly firearms.

Two federal law enforcement officials say Cruz’s rifle, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15.223, was purchased legally at Sunrise Tactical Gear in Florida. “He had an AR-15 he talked about, and pistols he had shot”.

One of Monday’s protesters, Samantha Dorf, tells The Associated Press she supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms but believes stronger background checks for gun-buyers are needed.

Cruz jumped out of an Uber car and walked toward building 12 of the school, carrying a black duffel bag and a black backpack.

Brian Blenner, who oversees juvenile operations for the Rapid City Police Department, said local law enforcement will review this incident and see if there’s “anything we can do better or different”.

We need to put guards in our schools – armed guards, not spectators. Seventy percent of those polled favored the idea. Sad that I had to be at a faculty meeting Thursday morning to see my principal crying as she explained to us that we had to read a letter to all our kids explaining that although Wednesday was an awful day, that today we – their staff and faculty – would keep them safe. Just once in 2018, on Feb. 2, has the organization clearly explained its definition on Twitter.