If you have been paying attention to the news recently, then you have already heard about the school shooting that took place this Valentine’s Wednesday in Parkland, Florida when a man opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School taking the lives of 17 and injuring an additional 20. What you may not have known is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew about the alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz 5 months prior to the incident.

Cruz, age 19, was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school for misconduct when he attended the school. Cruz was also barred from carrying a backpack due to the frequent amount of times he was found to be carrying bullets. According to fellow students at the school, Cruz was a  troublemaker, known for his anger issues  and odd behavior. Cruz had been reported to the police and Federal Bureau of Investigation in the past by both people who knew him and in real life. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had been notified about a comment Cruz made under a YouTube video about the 1966 shooting atop the University of Texas Tower where Cruz declared he was “going to be a professional school shooter”.

Nikolas Cruz is now in police custody after the incident. With many false reports being spread, even mainstream media is having trouble getting all the facts right about the shooting. With yet another tragedy occurring this year, many ask what should be done to stop another shooting like this in the future.  Whitney Young voiced their own ideas that could help solve this problem. Some are more concerned with mental health issues than they are of gun control,  “Mental health is a big issue. You can’t just ban guns and get rid of the problem” says Jackie Weng ‘18. Others are putting the blame more on authorities, “Maybe if the authorities did their job better, this wouldn’t have happened” says Fabian Haro ‘18. Yet some are choosing to criticize both sides for their lack of awareness, “It’s both of their faults, the police knew that the guy was a problem and didn’t do anything. The school also knew he was a problem and only expelled him” says Cristian Meza ‘19.

Whether you’re on the side of increasing gun control or increasing mental health awareness, I think we can all agree that what happened was  a tragedy.We can all do our part in trying to help prevent another tragedy like this from occurring by speaking up.