your family, we will be coming to you today to help you to make sure we help with your hospital bills. you have nothing to worry about there. we also will be on scene with f.b.i. and with superintendent who has done a great job. our advocates will be there to provide counseling. what we saw in las vegas and what we saw as pulse. people who we don't think who were impacted were impacted and we'll provide counseling for all of them. i was on the phone with 2:00 a.m. with go fund me and first thing this morning. it is safe to give to go fund me. they are pulling bad websites off constantly and monitoring everything. one of the top people at go fund me knew a victim. that's how far reaching this is. there will be one unified site. please don't be afraid to give to go fund me. all of these victims and families will be protected and governor, i cannot thank you for your support.

we have been on the phones constantly. he was here the second this happened. i can't thank you, the sheriffs office and f.b.i. enough. this is what you don't see around the country, teamwork. that's what happens in florida. that's what makes us very special. thank you. >> before we take questions i would like to also thank congressman ted deutch from coming down from washington, d.c. and elected officials from around the county. my message to the community is simple, your elected officials, your commissioners, your state reps, your state senators, make sure these are people that aren't worrying about saving money. this is a time to save lives. we need more law enforcement. we need more deputies. this isn't the time to worry about how many dollars might be saved if we don't have a deputy

here or a police officer here. this is nationwide. we need more. more heroes, more first responders, not less first responders. and i know many states have different terms to help our mentally ill. we all pray for our mentally ill. we pray for them to recover. we all know someone or a family who is affected by someone suffering from mental illness. the baker act in florida allows law enforcement or medical professionals to confine a person involuntarily while they get examined and looked at. but you have to have a reason. you have to be able to articulate that they are a threat to themselves or a threat to someone else. what i'm asking our lawmakers to do is go back to places like tallahassee, places like washington, d.c. and give police the power if they see something on social media, if

they see graphic pictures of rifles and blood and gore and guns and bombs, if they see something horrific language, if they see a person talking about i want to grow up to be a serial killer, we need to have the power to take that person and bring them before a mental health professional at that particular time unvoluntarily and have them examined. people will be rightfully so concerned about their rights, as am i. what about the rights of these students? what about the rights of young kids who go to schools with book bags and pencils? don't they have the right to be protected by the united states government? to the best of our ability? and that's what we'll be doing. any questions? >> [inaudible question] >> i don't know about the incident yet or what actually his performance was. i know aaron personally. i coached with him. my two boys played for him.

i don't know when aaron's funeral is. i don't know how many adults will go but you will get 2,000 kids there. the kids in this community loved him and adored him. one of the greatest people i knew. he was a phenomenal man. i don't know the specifics yet but i can tell you what, when aaron feis died, when he was killed, tragically, he did it protecting others, you can guarantee that. that's who he was. >> tell us about the condition of those injured. what are the extent of their injuries and what kind of injuries? >> we're fortunate today to have our doctors who work so tirelessly and saved so many lives yesterday. we will bring up one of our doctors to speak about some of those questions and answer those questions. >> thank you, sir.

good afternoon. dr. evan boyer, director and chairman of the department of emergency medicine at broward health north and i have our colleagues from broward health main here and the three of us collectively hopefully could answer some of those questions. so for starters just because we're medical professionals doesn't mean we're numb to the emotions and we send out our sympathy to all the families involved. the worst thing as a parent is if your kid doesn't come home from school that day hits home pretty hard. we sympathize for them. with that being said, nowadays unfortunately we do drills for this. about nine months ago we did a drill at our facility specifically for an active shooter. when it becomes a live event we can work seamlessly in order to ensure patient safety. i want to commend the

pre-hospital personnel yesterday for all their efforts and all the efforts at the hospitals who got patients. specifically to broward health north and i'll turn it over to the other doctors for broward health main. at north we had a total of nine patients. one was the suspect treated and released. we had two patients deceased. three patients have been discharged. we currently have three patients in the hospital. one with an extremity wound who is doing well and working with physical therapy. one who is intubated and doing well and following commands. a third patient that remains intubated in critical condition. >> i'm the director for the emergency department at broward health medical center so yesterday was a prior need that we as a team took care of all these patients. we are a facility.

right now we have two patients that are critical, stable condition. the other five went home or are on their way home and they are in good condition. the other two are in stable condition. so if you have any questions about those. >> thank you, i'm the medical director of broward health medical center. this is become routine for us. the second such episode we've had in a year, which is very sad. the first thing i want to say is this second time around just like the first time around the first responders did a terrific job and for those of you who understand what we do in trauma, time is of the essence and really the delivery of the patients by the ems personnel was fantastic and made a huge difference in the outcome. as doctor menendez said we

received seven patients, we have one that was in critical condition that went to surgery. we had two more stable patients that also required surgery. we have -- there are still six left in the hospital and hoping to be able to send home two of them today. but i expect them all to fully recover. i'm happy to take any questions. >> are you prepared to tell us that six -- [inaudible question]. >> we do not know if it's the same person. we did our database check and could not pot actively identify him. we're looking at the information again. i'm not willing to say at this time that it's one in the same person. [inaudible question] >> not at this time. that's certainly a possibility. as i said earlier the f.b.i.

and the florida department of law enforcement and broward sheriffs office will be working together to interview as many people as we can so down the road we can uncover this information. but at that time -- right now it's no more than a possibility. >> do you know how he entered the building? >> we'll speak about that and know about that and at our next press conference i will take the media through the timeline and talk about videotapes. matching up video and realtime information and we'll disseminate that. [inaudible question] >> we're not going to release that until later today if we do at all today. that falls back on firearms. investigators are tracking down

the history of the weapon. that is being pieced together. that will be something that we will discuss at the appropriate time. [inaudible question] >> the shootings last year, now this tragic shooting. what can you tell people of broward county? >> as i said, i talk about this all the time. it is not a phrase, it is not a term. it's the way we have to live our lives in circa 2018. if we see something we need to say something. if the neighbor comes home every friday at 4:00 always carrying a grocery big and it's milk and eggs and the last two fridays they've gone through a range and come back with bullets in the bag on friday, that's a change in behavior. it's something we need to know about. you are our eyes and ears. one community member who sees something could do more in a one-minute phone call than law enforcement could do in months. if you know anybody that is saying this raises a red flag.

i was thinking of calling us. don't think about calling us, call us. call the f.b.i. and the florida department of law enforcement, the broward sheriffs office. if you have -- if there is something in your gut that tells you something is not right with this person, this person has the capability in my mind to do this or do that, please don't remain silent. please let us know about it. [inaudible question] >> as a school district we have to protect the privacy of our students. so i can't go into much detail at all about the student's record and personal information.

i will tell you it was a former student at stoneman douglas. because of issues that arose he was transferred to another school within the county. again, i am not privileged to provide that information at the moment. but it is a student that we have been providing supports for and recognize there were challenges there. the specifics i can't get into. as far as the student coming on campus, this particular individual came onto campus at the time of dismissal and that is a fairly open time for the campus and he entered the facility at that moment. >> [inaudible question]

>> let me say this, when we have students within our care in the district we provide the services that we can provide them. this is bigger than just the school system. our kids are out of our schools 2/3 of the time. we need a community-wide approach to help our students with challenges and mental health concerns. so again, we've got to invest resources to make sure that we minimize the occurrence of this ever happening again. if we don't it's not a matter of if, it will be when. >> was there a psychological trigger for this student for this event? >> i have no idea. >> [inaudible question] >> there are some bodies still in the school. there is a medical -- right now the focus of the f.b.i. and

broward sheriffs office is on the successful prosecution of this killer and we aren't going to leave any stone unturned. we're trying to process this as quickly as we can but dme is involved, investigators are involved. science dna and a whole plethora of things. we want to go fast but we aren't going to rush it. we want to get it right before we get it fast. that's what's going on right now. >> did students in the school know? if they were concerned about a classmate is there a protocol or system? >> i'm sure there is. you know, there is a process. they could get ahold of teachers, guidance counselors, parents. make anonymous calls to crimestoppers. if somebody knows something, there is a way to say it, yes. >> is there a way --

>> we had a school resource deputy, deputy peterson, on campus and armed. he never encountered at this point the only thing i can tell you definitively is he never encountered cruz. >> will you have a real conversation about how to prevent something like this from happening, does that real conversation include gun control? that's something that you will look into? >> when i have this conversation next week with state leaders i want to focus on school safety. that will focus on dollars, it will focus as the superintendent said on mental health, dollars, what are the things we can do with regard to school safety. on top of that we have to think about this. if somebody is mentally ill they should not have access to a gun. so i want to focus on both of those things. i've already spoken to the speaker of the house and the speaker president and they are receptive to having this

conversation about school safety. all of us have children or grandchildren and nieces or nephews. none of us want anything like this to happen again. let me say something. [speaking spanish] >> [inaudible question] >> it's a pretty good assumption to start out with. >> [inaudible question] >> let's remember this, first

off pulse was a terrorist attack. after pulse i asked for money and the legislature supported adding more counter terrorism experts to our law enforcement. we added 46 additional counter terrorism experts. in this case what we have to think about is all of our schools have to be safe. it's as simple as that. how do we do that? it is going to be funding, it is going to be is there calls for security, mental illness, counselors. on top of that we've got to say to ourselves, if we have somebody that's mentally ill they can't have access to a gun. so i'm open to having a conversation about things because i don't want my children, your children, my grandchildren, your grandchildren ever have to go through this. i don't want to say i teach you now when you start kindergarten you have to be careful about a shooter. that's not the society we want to live in.

>> we have out here today i'm flanked by many of our school board members, our elected officials on the school board. and we appreciate them being out here and we'll make sure they are part of the conversations, too. they deeply care about their students and this community. so i'm glad to see them here today. a few more questions. we won't release anything -- >> [inaudible question] >> [inaudible question] >> if it was -- if he legally owned a gun we couldn't do anything about him having a gun. we could follow up and go to visit him whether he legally owns a gun or not. if a red flag goes up and there is something not right and we think this person has a

propensity to do such a horrific act i think police all over this nation need to be empowered to take that person and medically deliver him to a medical or her to a medical facility to be examined. thank you for your time. we'll be back in about an hour. >> you have been listening to a very sad and somber news conference in broward county, florida. the sheriff steve israel, governor rick scott and other local and community leaders reacting to the terrible events of about 20 hours ago marjory stoneman douglas school where a student walked up to the school as it was letting out carrying a rifle and opened fire. also released smoke grenades inside the school. 17 people are dead. we are waiting for president trump to address the nation on this school shooting as well.

the most deadly this country has seen since the massacre at sandy hook elementary school in newton, connecticut more than five years ago. a former student identified of nikolas cruz accused of opening fire gunning down 17 people and wounding dozens of other before the rampage ended. students and neighbors describe cruz obsessed with guns and now charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. florida is a death penalty state. president trump tweeting it appears cruz was mentally disturbed and offered sympathy to the victims. today the white house flag is flying at half staff as we await the president. he will be stepping into the diplomatic room shortly to make an address to the nation. i'm jon scott along with melissa francis. as we await the president we're also awaiting court action in

the florida high school massacre. the suspect is set to appear before a judge for the first time about an hour from now charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. again, 17 counts of premeditated murder. you heard the authorities speaking at the news conference a great deal about mental illness and it would seem that they seem to believe that mental illness was at play here but also having charged him with premeditated murder. you can't premeditate a murder if you're mentally ill. >> the school is closed today and grief counsels are available as the community and nation struggle to come to terms with another tragedy at yet another school. so many questions still regarding the motive. we're learning that accused gunman nikolas cruz was expelled from this school last year and that he came back yesterday armed with his own

ar-15 rifle, a gas mask, smoke grenades and a whole lot of ammunition. steve harrigan is live in coral springs, florida. what have you learned? >> we've just heard a press conference from the lead f.b.i. agent involved in the case as well as the broward county sheriff and governor scott painting a harrowing picture of what went on yesterday and the heroic response both by first responders and the doctors. there are still five people in critical condition. at 2:00 today the accused shooter the 19-year-old makes his way to court charged with 17 charges of premeditated murder. there was a bit of news from the f.b.i. agent. he said that on a youtube channel one year ago the suspect made a comment that he wants to be a professional school shooter. but they were unable to identify him. back to you.

>> yesterday a school filled with innocent children and caring teachers became the scene of terrible violence, hatred, and evil. around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, police responded to reports of gunfire at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, a great and safe community. there a shooter, who is now in custody, opened fire on defenseless students and teachers. he murdered 17 people and badly wounded at least 14 others. our entire nation with one heavy heart is praying for the victims and their families.

to every parent, teacher and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain. we are all joined together as one american family and your suffering is our burden also. no child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an american school. no parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning. each person who was stolen from us yesterday had a full life ahead of them. a life filled with wondrous beauty and unlimited potential and promise. each one had dreams to pursue,

love to give, and talents to share with the world. and each one had a family to whom they meant everything in the world. today we mourn for all of those who lost their lives. we comfort the grieving and the wounded. and we hurt for the entire community of parkland, florida that is now in shock and pain and searching for answers. to law enforcement, first responders and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger, we thank you for your courage. soon after the shooter, i spoke with governor scott to convey our deepest sympathies to the people of florida and our determination to assist in any way that we can.

i also spoke with florida attorney general pam bondi and broward county sheriff scott israel. i am making plans to visit parkland to meet with families and local officials and to continue coordinating the federal response. in these moments of heartache and darkness, we hold onto god's word in scripture. i have heard your prayer and seen your tears. i will heal you. we trust in that promise and we hold fast to our fellow americans in their time of sorrow. i want to speak now directly to america's children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused, or even scared. i want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. you have people who care about

you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. if you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer, or a faith leader. answer hate with love. answer cruelty with kindness. we must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life that creates deep and meaningful human connections and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors. our administration is working closely with local authorities to investigate the shooting and learn everything we can. we are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of

mental health. later this month i will be meeting with the nation's governors and attorney generals where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. we must actually make that difference. in times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community, and country. these bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil and these bonds grow even stronger in the hours of our greatest need. and so always, but especially today, let us hold our loved ones close, let us pray for healing and for peace, and let us come together as one nation

to wipe away the tears and strive for a much better tomorrow. thank you and god bless you all. thank you very much. >> president trump addressing the nation after the terrible school shooting yesterday in parkland, florida. 17 dead. six others in critical condition. the death toll could go higher. please stay tuned to fox news channel and this fox station for continuing coverage of the story. i'm jon scott in new york. >> jon scott along with melissa francis. we're continuing our coverage of the horrific events of yesterday in parkland, florida. joining us now is ari fleischer the former white house press secretary under george w. bush and fox news contributor. it is never the job that any

president wants to have when they become consoler in chief at a time like this and there are all kinds of screams and criticisms from around the country at what happened yesterday in parkland. give us your sense of how president trump handled this one today. >> i thought his remarks were the right remarks and this is the time that presidents have to look into their hearts and say how can i help? what words can i use to sooth those who suffer? i think the president found the right words. these are among the most difficult things presidents have to do is to become the nation's comforter in chief and it's a moment every president goes through and i thought the president did a very artically, emotionally and well. >> no child should ever be in danger when he or she goes to school. no parent should have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning among the words the

president used. you know, again, there will be calls for gun control, there will be -- i don't know, people grasping at straws trying to prevent one of the next of these events from happening. he did talk about mental health counseling. it does seem this gunman was mentally disturbed or deranged. >> that does seem to be the pattern we keep seeing in several of these shootings. and this is quickly going to enter into an issue involving civil liberties. that is something that congress and state legislatures need to face head on and transparently. how far should we go? when we see somebody with postings on facebook and twitter does it give authorities the right to involuntarily detain them and put them into the institutions if it's a judgment. that's something society should talk about. i don't know the answers. i don't know how far we could

or should go. you do want after all these different shootings to start to put things on the table and see what can be done and the democrats, of course, will want to put gun control on the table. republicans will resist that. a debate is healthy. today is not the day for it. the president's remarks should be as they were focused on comfort and he did it right. >> the broward school superintendent i believe it was who said we should not have disaffected children wandering around on the streets of our city. that is paraphrasing. i wrote notes as he was speaking. it was close to what he said. apparently it was the school district that, you know, expelled this kid from one high school, sent him to another. but maybe he fell through the cracks. there was also the very strong response from the f.b.i. somebody reported this kid to the f.b.i. for posting something in social media or online about the fact that he wanted to be a professional school shooter.

the f.b.i. got up there and said look, we looked at this, we didn't find any specific dates or specific threat and it was -- he seemed to say that it was not possible to trace the origin, the writer of that actual threat. so again it will be one of those cases where there were lots of warning signs out there and nobody put all the pieces together. >> jon, my experience with things like this you need to let some time pass for people to put together all the different threads. what was known, what was vague, what was a gray area? as you listen to sheriff israel talk today they're working on putting that timeline together. more will come out. i'm not in a rush to judge or make conclusions. you can't do that in the immediatesy of one of these things. you have to let law enforcement to take the time, to learn the facts and put them all out there. will this one be different and cause the nation to act differently, enact new laws? i don't know. it has never yet happened that

way. the sentiment is what laws can we pass that would stop this type of behavior? are there any laws? i don't know that any of us know the answer to that yet. >> some have suggested that, you know, if this is a kid who was in trouble before, the equivalent of broken windows policing might be helpful here. that if you start putting police in contact with some of these troubled individuals for some of the lesser offenses, maybe lesser crimes that they might commit, it could prevent potentially the kind of thing we saw yesterday. >> perhaps it could. but you know, the police can be in touch with people and people when interact with the police can say all the right things and they go and act like this. as we know there was a deputy sheriff at the school. safety officer at the school but didn't have proximity to the shooter. so the problem with these things is people as free individuals in a free country

have the right to go places unless we start seizing them. if we start to seize people and institutionize them that's where civil liberties come into play and that's why these issues are so difficult and i don't know if we know what the right answer is. these are the right questions but these are things over time people do need to start talking about. what could be done to prevent it and put it all on the table. >> ari fleischer was former press spokesman for president george w. bush. on a sad morning, thanks for your thoughts. >> the florida rampage -- according to gun advocacy groups it is the 18th school shooting this year. it is only february. a troubling statistic prompted many to once again question measures for prevention. >> this could happen anywhere.

we have seen that evil can occur whether in parkland or in a church in central texas or in schools across the country. i mean, there are murderers. evil is sadly always present and we need to do what we can to act to prevent it. sometimes you see brave heroes who are able to step forward and sometimes you have people like in sutherland springs what are armed and engage the killer and stop them. >> joining me now is a retired f.b.i. agent. let me lean on you as a crime prevention consultant. we heard two policy ideas in the press conferences that preceded this. i want to ask you what you think of both of them. steve israel, the broward county sheriff. he said he would like to ability if someone makes a threat, for them to be held in a mental facility even against

their will for either the f.b.i. and local sheriff to have the ability if you make a threat to somebody or put up like in this case as is reported to have put up a post saying i want to be a school shooter that you can be taken to a mental facility against your will. what do you think about that? >> i would think given the time we're living in right now i don't think it is farfetched. i think it is something we have to actually look at. there is no silver bullet to stopping this problem that's been prolific. studies showing we're in an upward trend and losing lives every day. having that as one particular option, it will have to be a comprehensive defense system here to protect ours kids, yes. if the person meets a certain threshold, they go in for an evaluation. no problem with that. they are assessed. >> there are people who would be concerned about civil liberties in that case to be taken and held against your

will for something you say. whether it's a threat or not. that's a fine line and certainly there are elements of free speech there. everybody is going to in these conversations afterwards somebody puts up an idea and then people that are opposed to that talk about all the crimes that wouldn't have been solved by that idea. there is no one thing that will solve all of this and it is probably a combination of things. governor rick scott said repeatedly that we have to find a way that the mentally ill should not have access to a gun. how do you think -- how could that be achieved? >> absolutely. that's another thing i've been teaching and talking about for years. as a crime prevention consultant. these are the type of issues i teach everything from getting individuals recalibrated so they understand what they see something that is going on we have to get rid of the see something say something. it now we're all about if you know something, do something.

proactively get involved. we all have to get there. yes, moving in that direction is definitely one of the things we need to be looking at. >> all right. we're out of time because of our breaking news. thank you so much for coming on. appreciate your time, john. >> that teenager accused of opening fire at a florida hospital in custody this morning as we await his first appearance in court on 17 charges of premeditated murder. former classmates say they knew something was off with the 19-year-old suspect. the red flags people noticed before this tragedy. >> my teacher was dead. i saw him in my classroom. but now everything is okay. my class i think he is good. nobody is dead in my class. okay, i never thought i'd say this, but i found bladder leak underwear that's actually pretty. surprised? it's called always discreet boutique. it looks and fits like my underwear.

i know what you're thinking. how can something this pretty protect? hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel... ...for incredible protection. so i feel protected... ...and pretty. always discreet boutique.

>> melissa: we continue our coverage of the massacre at a florida school, a gunman opening fire killing 17 people. students saying they knew

something was off with the suspect nikolas cruz before the massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school. he was expelled for disciplinary reasons. school officials saying he kept coming back. classmates describe him as weird, a little off, a loaner. >> everyone just hiding together, you would know that this shouldn't be happening. >> everyone got out of their classes because we thought it was a fire drill. then i don't know what happened, just everyone started running back to the class and then i just ran. >> he knows where there will be a lot of people at a certain time. so i don't think it's a coincidence. >> i was in the freshman building first floor and he ran up and down the hallway banging and shooting into the classrooms. he shot through my door and broke the window. >> melissa: full details of the suspect's mental condition aren't known at this time.

>> all people were saying it would be him. all the kinds through jokes around like that. he will be the one to shoot up the school. it turns out everyone predicted it. that's crazy. >> jon: you heard it right there. an old friend of the suspected gunman saying if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be nikolas cruz. if the warning signs were there, how did that happen again? do you want the try to take a stab at an answer to that question? >> just like everybody else has said this morning it's a very difficult task to try to come up with an answer. as far as what could have been done to prevent this, there were red flags out there mentioned but there are only so many offices and agents that can look into these type of things.

in tulsa we're an understaffed police department. we try to take every notice seriously and investigate as far as possible. it's a very, very difficult task. >> jon: without infringing on people's personal liberties, there has to be a way that the folks at google or the nsa or somebody can look for somebody who is making a lot of online threats or posting about certain threatening words, but this is america and you cannot spy on americans, right? >> exactly. the day of the digital social media, i have teenage son and daughter in college. every one of these kids has multiple social media platforms. and just even from us in law enforcement when we're doing criminal investigations and looking at people's social media for our own investigations, we're investigating shootings and things like that.

there are thousands of pages of data for one search warrant for a facebook. as you said it is how do we, without infringing on people's rights, get into these type of things? it's very difficult. >> jon: there was also an armed sheriff's deputy on duty at the school. we don't know yet. i'm guessing this suspect knew the facility pretty well. it was a large school. even if the deputy responded at the sound of the first gunfire which i'm guessing he probably did, this gunman was able to inflict a lot of carnage before he dropped his weapon and blended with students and got out of there. it is hard to imagine what more we could do. >> that's exactly it. as everybody else has mentioned over the last 12, 18 hours about this there are multiple things that need to be looked at on how these things are happening. what can we do as a nation to reduce or stop them? there is a lot of talk about

the mental health issue. this gentleman was receiving counseling and things like that. on the atm form 4473 there are a series of question the gun purchaser has to fill out. one of them, 11f talks about have you been adjudicated mentally defective. has the court determined that you are mentally incompetent, that type of situation. if you are just receiving counseling or even if you suffer from depression or on medication it doesn't qualify. >> jon: it relies on the honor system, too. to give honest answers to these questions. >> that's exactly it. going back to the school having the sheriff deputy present there, they are fortunate they're able to do that there. in tulsa we have the public school police department. there are numerous school districts across the country because of the cost they can't afford to have security guards or officers there.

it is a difficult task to protect our students and children. >> jon: there will be much more information to come but it sure looks like a lot of warning signs were missed in this particular tragedy. sergeant sean larkin, tulsa police. thank you. >> melissa: much more still ahead as we continue our coverage of the florida shooting. what we were learning about the 19-year-old suspect and his troubled history and fascination with guns. >> what does it take for yours to come to our senses in a civilized and loving people to stop this mass murder? ng referr. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families and visited senior care communities around the country and i've got to tell you, today's senior livingnd communities are better than tever.ou, today's senior living communities are better than ever. these days, there are amazing amenities like movie theaters,

texercise rooms and swimmingg pools, public cafes, bars and, bistros. exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros. even pet care services. and nobody understands your options like the advisors at a place for mom. these are local, expert advisors that will partner with you to find the perfect place and determine the right level of care. whether that's just a helping hand or fulltime memory care. best of all it's a free service. there's never any cost to you. senior living has never been better. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. call today. a place for mom. you know your family. we know senior living. a place for mom. you know your family. we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice.

>> jon: fox news alert. 17 people are dead after the

shooting yesterday at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. a well to do section of broward county where this kind of thing just doesn't happen. joining us now is a retired lieutenant and former commander at the new york city police department. joe, your first thoughts after yet another school shooting. >> my first thoughts it's a shame. i feel so sorry for everybody that's attached to this down in florida. it is becoming all too common these days. and we're missing the red flags whether within the schools or outside the schools or on social media. and i agree and disagree with everything i've been listening to. one of the points the superintendent. when he got up there and said i'm not allowed to divulge that at this point. i hope he is able to divulge it to the police department. they have to make the connections with this.

there are so many things that could be done. once again i disagree with something i heard last night. mark if -- furman says not bringing in retired military or police officers is a viable solution. i think it's very viable. people with experience can teach the younger police officers what to look for and you need to get these people into the schools to speak to the students and the staff as one and let them know what the look for. the students have to be told and have to be told it is not ratting out on anybody. it is doing your job as a student or somebody in that community to come forward and say something. and do something. >> jon: somebody tried to say something and do something. this is perhaps the saddest part of this whole story. you might have heard at the beginning of the news conference the f.b.i. got up there and said listen, we received a tip from a citizen who said somebody posted

something on his youtube channel saying that they wanted to be a professional school shooter. we looked into it. there was nothing specific about the time or the place and the f.b.i. agent seemed to say we couldn't even locate the identity of the person who had sent the threat. guess what? we've seen a screen shot of that threat and it is signed nikolas cruz, with a k. the name of the guy under arrest. how thoroughly did the f.b.i. look at this threat? >> i won't question how thoroughly they looked at it. something was missed here whether on the school level or on law enforcement outside of the community's level. the thing is this. when people see things on social media and they go out he is just fooling around. no, they aren't fooling around. i've been involved in many cases, one right after columbine emulating what they did down there. the kid was making a bomb and

blew off three fingers. what i'm saying is if the kids in the school are seeing it and hearing it firsthand. never mind social media. you sit in the lunch room. the individual is a loner. you have the bullying situation, people that social outcast situation. we need to encompass all these things. if you had a situation -- i'm not monday morning quarterbacking anybody. what i'm saying is if you had people in there that can address it and see it and have the students come to them firsthand and say i see this going on and that. i disagree with protecting their rights as a student. i'm not saying you have to let out every little detail but if somebody is showing pictures of knives and guns and he is flaunting them and showing them to people and people see this, that's a major red flag that has to come up. that has to go into the question of mental stability. >> jon: we have to leave it there. joe, thank you. >> melissa: in the next hour

we're waiting for the suspect in the florida school shooting to make his first court appearance and capitol hill will also pay tribute to the victims just a few minutes from now.

bp is taking safety to new heights. using drones and robots offshore

so engineers can stop potential problems before they start. because safety is never being satisfied and always working to be better. >> jon: word from president trump that he does in will comfort the people in parkland, broward county after the terrible shooting yesterday. >> we heard from rick scott after the pulse nightclub shooting, talking about some policy ideas. he said we have to figure out how to keep people with mental illnesses from getting their hands on guns, they are not necessarily being enforced. a lot of people looking for

solutions and there is no one solution, i think it is safe to say. >> jon: more coverage throughout the day. >> melissa: "outnumbered" starts right now. >> sandra: fox news alert, we are awaiting another update from the sheriff. >> harris: on the massacre at a florida high school. first, the president addressed a grieving nation one day after one of the deadliest school shootings in the country. new potential warning signs missed, we are awaiting the suspect's first court. 19-year-old, accused of killing at least 17 people at a florida high school. students who knew him say they knew he was trouble. one boy even said "everyone predicted it." right now, there is a moment of silence being observed on the senate floor in our nation's capital. this is "outnumbered." i am