Local

Rick Scott pushes for increased oversight of FBI mass violence tips

A new proposed law aims to hold the FBI accountable for failing to act on tips about potential mass violence suspects.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) said tips about the mass shootings at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018 and Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016 should have been thoroughly investigated.

"The FBI had actual intelligence on the perpetrators of these attacks but the information was not passed down to local authorities,” Scott said.

Gina Montalto was a freshman at the Parkland high school last year. She was one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting.

"They all had lives and futures,” her father Tony Montalto said.

The families said they were outraged when they got a conference call telling them the FBI had gotten a tip about the accused shooter several weeks before the massacre but the tip hadn’t been investigated.

"I had to leave the viewing of my daughter for the first time to go out and speak on that call,” Montalto said.

"This was very devastating information to have to hear because you'd think one of the biggest organizations around would protect someone,” Gena Hoyer, the mother of Parkland shooting victim Luke Hoyer, said.

Scott said his bill titled the “Threat Information Protocol for Sharing Act” dubbed TIPS would require the FBI to provide monthly reports about tips made through the FBI’s national tip line.

Scott said he hasn’t gotten any answers from the FBI about how or why the tips in the recent mass shootings were not investigated.

"Why were these tips not followed up on?" Scott said.

"That was one of the many failures that failed our families that day,” Hoyer said.

The FBI declined to comment about Scott’s proposed legislation or remarks.

Download: Free WFTV News & Weather Apps

Watch: Channel 9 WFTV newscasts live

Watch Live: Doppler 9 HD