US President Donald Trump has been criticised for his latest tweet in reaction to the Florida mass school shooting which left 17 people dead and 15 injured, after it appeared to blame the suspect's neighbours and classmates for not stopping him.

Trump initially tweeted one hour and 20 minutes after the shooting, which took place at 2.30pm local time (7.30pm GMT) at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Wednesday (14 February). He wrote: "My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school."

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Five minutes later, he added: "Just spoke to Governor Rick Scott. We are working closely with law enforcement on the terrible Florida school shooting."

A Marjory Stoneman Douglas student named Sarah took objection with his words, writing on Twitter: "I don't want your condolences you f**king price of s**t, my friends and teachers were shot. Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won't fix this. But Gun control will prevent it from happening again."

After waking up on Thursday morning, Trump had some more controversial thoughts to share on the tragedy. At 7.12am (12.12pm GMT), he tweeted: "So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!" Bizarrely, the tweet was linked to a seemingly unrelated post about DACA immigration negotiations.

The tweet upset some people who said it appeared to blame suspect Nikolas Cruz's classmates for not reporting him enough. Cruz was expelled from the high school last year for disciplinary reasons.

Some mocked Trump by saying they would report him for appearing mentally disturbed himself. One Twitter user wrote: "I'd like to report a mentally ill person in the Oval Office."

Many also pointed out that Trump could shoulder some of the blame himself, as he revoked Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to buy guns. The law, revoked by Trump last February, expanded the national background check database to include people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs.

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