Local Authorities Visited Cruz Three Times Before Shooting

During Nikolas Cruz’s stay at his best friend’s at a Palm Beach County trailer park, authorities were summoned three times three months before the Parkland shooting for “a fight, a welfare check and report of a weapon.” His friends father, Rick Deschamps, called authorities while Cruz was at work to have them investigate if he had a gun buried in the backyard. The police report did not indicate whether or not a weapon was found on the property. A social worker then asked authorities to do a welfare check on Cruz’s brother, who was absent from school since his mother’s passing. The authorities were told to come back later, but records do not indicate whether the deputies followed-up. The last incident involved a fist fight between Deschamps and Cruz after he had misplaced a picture of his mother—four days before Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school. This comes as the FBI has been scrutinized for not properly investigating two leads that the Bureau had flagging Cruz as a potential danger.