Two brothers who knew the suspected shooter and were present during the massacre at a Florida high school stated during an appearance on MSNBC that they did not believe gun control could have prevented the tragedy.
Freshman Aiden Minoff and his older brother Brandon Minoff, a senior, were calm and rational during the interview despite what they had just been through.
Their interview begins just after the 1:00 mark:
Aiden Minoff explained that he “heard a few pops,” but did not think it was gun shots until a friend who was in the restroom ran into the classroom screaming frantically that there was a shooter.
“We were all a little suspicious until the fire alarm was pulled,” the freshman said. He added that his entire class and his teacher were unharmed.
Brandon Minoff told Williams that he had two classes with the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, and that he had told him he had been expelled from different private schools and wanted to join the military. Cruz was also expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where the shooting took place.
The senior stated that he wasn’t surprised when he found out it was Cruz.
“I wasn’t surprised, but it was kind of unfortunate to hear,” he said.
When asked by Williams how he would prevent such tragedies if he was lawmaker in a “decision-making position,” clearly fishing for a plea for gun control, Brandon Minkoff asserted that the problem isn’t guns — but mental health issues.
“Gun-wise, I don’t think there’s any way to prevent it,” the elder Minoff responded. “You outlaw guns, it just creates higher demand for it. I think it has to do with mental health, though. If he’s been expelled three different times from three different schools, I think he should be helped out.”
Cruz had been reported to the FBI as a potential school shooter in September of last year. Perhaps if the FBI had not been so bogged down with the nonsensical Russia investigation they would have had the time to investigate the report and prevent this tragedy.
