School shooter called police on himself
More missed "red flags." And they're pretty big:
It has been revealed that the infamous 19-year-old Florida school shooter who killed 17 people after he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School called the police distressed after his mother passed away just months ago.
[He] called authorities just after Thanksgiving, saying he had been in a fight and was struggling with the death of his mother. 'The thing is I lost my mother a couple of weeks ago, so like I am dealing with a bunch of things right now,' he told police.
On January 5, just a month before the shooting, a woman who knew [he] called the FBI tip line and said 'I know he's going to explode. 'She said her biggest fear was that he might resort to entering a school and just start 'shooting the place up.'
According to the Daily Mail, the woman who looking after the shooter after his mother died told authorities that he had eight weapons - apparently purchased with the money from his dead mother's life insurance policy.
Meanwhile, a handful of kids from the high school are getting celebrity treatment from major media outlets, as they call for gun bans, more restrictions, and for Republicans to be "held accountable."
One student, in particular, has gotten widespread coverage. His name is David Hogg.
From Mediaite:
Hogg, appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, said the news is “raising concern” in his community, before accusing elected officials of attempting the blame the shooting on “bureaucracy.”
“They’re in charge of them,” Hogg said of those elected officials. “This is their fault.”
“They should have been regulating them,” he continued. “I’m not going to allow them to pressure these people because at the end of the day it’s their fault. These elected officials are the boss of these sheriff personnel and just like the president is the boss of the FBI, Governor Rick Scott is essentially the boss of Scott Israel, the sheriff, and as such he should be held accountable.
“He can’t just blame this on the bureaucracy and expect to get re-elected.”
First, Gov. Rick Scott is not running for re-election. He is term-limited.
Second, this same boy defended the Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
Third, Sheriff Israel is an elected official - who has apparently lied about the number of calls the got about the shooter.
Speaking of accountability... where is Hogg's for this false partisan rhetoric? Why does the media not correct him?
As David French at National Review stated: "If suffering conveys moral authority, then the kids who disagree with Hogg should of course have equal status and should have equal time. It’s painfully obvious that he’s so inspiring to adults in part because he’s saying what the media adults want to hear."
During this appearance, he attacked NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, saying: "She owns these congressmen. She can get them to do things. It's just she doesn't care about these children's lives."
The host - Brian Stelter - did not challenge this ridiculous claim.
CNN's Jake Tapper interviewed the Sheriff this weekend.
Here is the video:
At one point, Israel said he has provided "amazing leadership" to the agency. And in another TV interview he said he doesn't bear any responsibility for any of the missed red flags.
Speaking of accountability...
The District Attorney in Durham dropped all the charges against vandals who tore down a confederate statue last year. According to the WRAL report, the DA decided he couldn't win the case against the protesters because the judge had dismissed the charges against other protesters with the same evidence.
"For my office to continue to take these cases to trial based on the same evidence would be a misuse of state resources," Echols said. "For that reason, I will dismiss the remaining charges against the remaining defendants."
Keep in mind, the protest - and the toppling of the statue - were all caught on video.
The defense attorney also argued that a 1941 anti-subversive law protected the act of vandalism.
Holmes invoked North Carolina’s 1941 law on “subversive activities” while arguing that his clients did nothing wrong last summer when they toppled the monument. The law among other things forbids using any public building to advocate overthrowing the U.S., state or local governments by force.
Confederates obviously tried to overthrow the government, so the theory goes that a monument honoring them supports that cause and knocking one down amounts to defending those governments and the people.
The judge in the case avoided ruling on this argument, instead just tossing everything out for lack of evidence.
(Aside from the video, of course.)