YouTube user who warned FBI on Florida shooter speaks out

The YouTube vlogger who notified the FBI of the potential threat from the Florida school shooter told FOX Business that he didn’t hear again from the agency until after the Valentine’s Day massacre.

“They called me and asked to meet with me and they asked if I had any further information or any further contact with the individual that left the message and I hadn’t, so I couldn’t give them any more information than they already had,” Ben Bennight said during an interview on FOX Business’ “Risk & Reward.”

Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz commented on a social media video post saying, “I am going to be a professional school shooter.”

“When I saw the post, I screen shot it…and I got it to the FBI as soon as I could. I gave them a call and they sent agents to my office and took my information,” Bennight said.

The Department of Justice has ordered an immediate review of the FBI in the wake of the Florida shooting after the agency failed to act on multiple tips.

“It is now clear that the warning signs were there and tips to the FBI were missed…this is imperative, and we must do better,” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Friday.

Robert Lasky, the FBI agent in charge of the Miami division, said at a news conference Thursday that the agency conducted database reviews, but was unable to identify the person who made the comment on YouTube.

“In 2017, the FBI received information about a comment made on a YouTube channel. The comment simply said, ‘I am going to be a professional school shooter.’ No other information was included with that comment,” Lasky said.

Bennight said he is uncertain of what the FBI could have done further with the information he provided and thinks social media companies have the technology to configure their algorithms to flag threatening comments.

“My tip was not very much information. They didn’t have a whole lot to go on there, other than a name and a comment. So, I don’t know what they could have done with that other than look for people with that name,” he said.