The tip went to the FBI’s New York field office, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
“The ADL Center on Extremism regularly shares alerts and updates with law enforcement,” the statement said.
“We shared profiles and activity at the time with law enforcement for actions they deemed necessary based on what was available at the time.
“We do not share alerts to law enforcement outside of law enforcement, and there is a current investigation,” the statement said.
“We have determined that these protocols were not followed …” the FBI statement said.
DENVER — The FBI was notified in July by a group that keeps an eye on hate speech and extremism about troubling online posts and activity that have since been linked to the 16-year-old Evergreen High student who shot two classmates last week before killing himself, according to 9NEWS Investigates.
Because they were unable to determine Desmond Holly’s location or identity, the Anti-Defamation League did not include these details in their tip; however, the FBI started looking into the matter.
Law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation say the FBI’s New York field office received the tip.
To 9NEWS Investigates, the FBI National Press Office confirmed that they had received the tip and started looking into it.
According to the statement, the FBI launched an investigation into a user of a social media account whose identity was unknown in July 2025. The user was discussing the planning of a mass shooting and making threats that were not specific. Every tip is examined by the FBI, which also looks for reliable leads. Claims of criminal activity are evaluated for their veracity while taking into account any relevant federal laws. We kept working on this assessment investigation until September 10, 2025, in order to determine the user’s name and location.
“There was no probable cause for arrest or further federal law enforcement action because the identity of the account user was unknown during the assessment investigation,” the statement read.
No FBI official would elaborate.
In a separate statement, Oren Segal, the ADL’s senior vice president of intelligence and counterextremism, also acknowledged the tip.
“Law enforcement is regularly provided with alerts and updates by the ADL Center on Extremism,” the statement stated. “Based on the information available at the time, we provided law enforcement with profiles and activity to help them take any necessary action. We now know those profiles belonged to the person who carried out the Evergreen shooting.
“There is an ongoing investigation, and we do not share alerts with law enforcement outside of law enforcement,” the statement read.
Multiple references to white supremacist symbolism were found in his TikTok accounts, according to information made public by the ADL. These included a reference to a white supremacist slogan in his profile name and a picture of him donning a skull mask that featured the names of the first and second mosques in New Zealand that were targeted by a mass shooter in March 2019.
The gunman in those attacks killed 51 people and wounded 89 more in total.
Additionally, in April 1999, the teen posted messages on the internet “emulating” the two murderers who killed a dozen students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, while injuring over twenty others.
The shooter uploaded a picture of a .38-caliber handgun to his X account about an hour prior to the assault in Evergreen last Wednesday. Although he remained silent, Jefferson County sheriff’s officials acknowledged that the shooter at Evergreen High used a revolver.
Before killing himself, he shot two students at the school, seriously wounding one and critically injuring the other.
What specific information the ADL gave the FBI in July is unclear.
First, 9NEWS Investigates started inquiring about communications between the FBI and the organization on Friday. The ADL sent news outlets a six-page article about the shooter’s online activity that same day, implying that the group had been gathering information about the boy for months. However, neither organization would comment or respond to inquiries.
For example, it claimed that the shooter started gathering tactical equipment concurrently with posting unsettling messages on the internet, which started “months before” he opened fire at the school, according to the ADL.
According to the ADL, during that period, the shooter “expressed neo-Nazi views,” “developed a deep fascination with mass shooters,” and maintained an account on a gore-focused website. According to the ADL, the teenager made remarks about previous mass shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Quebec City, Canada, in 2017. 2018; as well as in Buffalo, N. Y. in 2022.
He seems to have joined that website in December. 26, 2024.
Two other school shooters were also active on that website, the ADL said.
When the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooter live-streamed his attack, a song played in the background of the Evergreen shooter’s now-deleted TikTok video, which showed him wearing a gas mask and a tactical helmet, according to the ADL. The teenager also gave the site’s comments on some of his posts the thumbs up when someone commented, “You got close to a full setup now man time to make a move.”. “.”.
The Evergreen shooter replied, “A GoPro, battery, ear protection, and maybe a patch,” to another user’s post that said, “just need an GoPro(sic) its gonan(sic) be cool on pov(sic).”. “”.
The FBI has previously received a tip similar to this one regarding an individual who went on to carry out a school shooting.
On Jan. On May 5, 2018, a call to the FBI’s nationwide hotline revealed that Nikolas Cruz was armed, possessed firearms, exhibited erratic behavior, and posted unsettling content on social media.
The FBI did not investigate that tip.
Friday, February, about five weeks later. Cruz fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on July 14, 2018. resulting in 17 fatalities and 18 injuries.
Then-FBI Christopher Wray admitted the failure two days after the killings.
“The information provided by the caller should have been evaluated as a potential threat to life under established protocols,” the FBI stated in a statement. The FBI Miami Field Office should then have received the information and taken the necessary investigative action.
The FBI statement read, “We have determined that these protocols were not followed.”. “The Miami Field Office was not given the information, and no additional research was done at that time. “.”.
There is a history of overlooked warning signs in Colorado.
A fellow Columbine High student’s parents reported to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in 1997 and 1998 that two of their classmates seemed to be making pipe bombs and threatening mass murder in online content. A search warrant from one of the boys’ residences was even drafted by a Jefferson County sheriff’s investigator, but it was never executed and never presented to a judge for approval.
Jefferson County officials made public one of the two reports ten days after the two boys attacked the school on April 20, 1999, but they concealed the other and the existence of that draft search warrant for almost two years. It wasn’t made public until a judge ordered its release after a news organization filed a lawsuit to obtain the records.
His psychiatrist informed campus police that a University of Colorado graduate student had expressed homicidal thoughts and was a danger to the public a month prior to the student’s murder of 12 people and the wounding of over 70 others in an Aurora theater.
