Updated February 18, 2018 18:12:56

Photo: Donald Trump visits medical staff at Broward Health North in Florida following Wednesday's shooting. (AP: Andrew Harnik)

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the FBI, saying the agency "missed all of the many signals" sent by the suspect in the Florida school shooting before the deadly rampage.

Nineteen-year-old former student, Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the killing of students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday.

The FBI received a tip last month that the suspect had a "desire to kill" and access to guns and could be plotting an attack.

On Friday the agency said its agents failed to investigate the reports.

Mr Trump went on to link the FBI's handling of the matter to their investigation into possible links between his presidential campaign and Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election, saying they were "spending too much time" on the Russia probe that had ensnared former aides.

The FBI's acknowledgment that it mishandled the tip prompted a sharp rebuke from its boss, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, and a call from Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott, a Trump ally, for FBI director Christopher Wray to resign.

Mr Trump and other Republicans have heavily criticised the FBI, which has come under sustained criticism from Trump supporters angered by its more-that-year-long investigation of the President's campaign.

They are still dissatisfied with its decision not to charge his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton with crimes related to her use of a private email server, and they see signs of bias in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of possible Trump campaign ties to Russia.

AP/Reuters

Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, murder-and-manslaughter, security-intelligence, united-states

First posted February 18, 2018 17:16:37