A new FBI study of 63 mass shooters found that Nikolas Cruz engaged in what experts call "leakage," or attempts to communicate to someone intentions to harm others, and that his behavior patterns were the same as the others in the study, The Sun-Sentinel reported.
The study also found no evidence for the common misconception that shooters suffered from some form of mental disorder or that they just “snapped.”
What makes the Cruz example disturbing, like so many others, is that at least one person noticed concerning behavior in the lives of each of the active shooters studied, yet nothing was done about it until it was too late, said Andre Simons who co-authored the study.
Even more concerning is that Simons suspects there are others out there "who are planning their attacks as we speak," according to the Sun-Sentinel.
In the years and months leading up to the Parkland school shooting, which left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, Cruz reportedly told people of his plans to go on a rampage on several occasions, posting repeated threats on social media.
Police received at least eight warnings about the suspected school shooter's intentions before that fateful day but did they did not act.
Experts believe that Cruz was displaying the behavior typical of a mass killer in the internet age, The Sun-Sentinel said.
In the recently released FBI study, which tracked the pre-attack behavior of 63 shooters from 2000 to 2013, more than half the killers had revealed their intentions to harm others to people online or in person.
Cruz, just like 30 percent of the studied mass shooters, also prepared some kind of communication prior to the shooting to claim credit for his actions.
According to USA Today, the suspected Parkland shooter recorded chilling cell phone videos just before the attack, claiming he would become "the next school shooter" and revealing his goal to shoot "at least 20 people."
Cruz displayed other actions that are in line with how a mass shooter would typically behave, The Sun Sentinel noted.
He invested considerable time planning the shooting, was fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shooting in Colorado, and he faced numerous personal difficulties in the year before he opened fire on his classmates.
The study dispelled the theory that mass shooters suffered from some type of mental disorder, in fact only one in four of the killers studied had ever been diagnosed with any form of mental illness.
"They don't snap," Simons said, according to The Sun-Sentinel.
It is unclear why mass shooters choose to communicate their plans online however, experts believe it may be because they are "living in a muted way in real life" but interacting in a "more vividly online."
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