Video evidence reveals that an armed Broward County resource deputy stationed at Stoneman Douglas High School during the Valentine's day massacre did "nothing" during the shooting - instead waiting outside as a gunman opened fire on students and teachers, killing 17.
Speaking at a press conference, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said the on duty officer at Stoneman "never went in." Israel said he was "devastated" after watching the video showing the deputy taking a position outside the Western side of Building 12 while shots rang out, "and he never went in" despite having a clear view of the entrance.
"I think he remained outside upwards of four minutes," Israel said.
The uniformed officer, identified as Scot Peterson, was been suspended without pay pending an investigation, according to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel - however he has since resigned and retired from the department.
"As is his right, Scot Peterson chose to resign, because he has the necessary time with the agency and meets the requirements of retirement, he resigned and retired."
"We're not going to disclose the video at this time, and we may never disclose the video depending on the prosecution and the criminal case."
"These families lost their children, we lost coaches. I've been to the funerals. I've been to the homes where they're sitting shiva. I've been to the vigils. It's just, there are no words."
When asked by a reporter what the deputy should have done, the Sheriff replied "Went in. Address the killer. Kill the killer."
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62 comments:
Nothing but a pathetic coward.
no pension for this POS.
On most police vehicles can be seen the words in quotes "to protect and serve", the question is who? The public at large or each other as the case of a group of Baltimore City officers accused of robbing drug dealers as they served their interest and protected each other!
It was a citizen who went after the latest church shooter was it not?
Most officers do a fine job but all it takes/took is one to fail and you have a massive tragedy as was the case here. He liked the power and prestige but lacked the courage in the face of danger!
Just another one in the long line of those who could have done something but did nothing. Then that coward "sheriff" gets on TV to showoff and blame the NRA when he is the one who is to blame because he subscribes to democrat policies of not arresting students so schools can show an "improvement" in student behavior. If that sheriff was competent this would not ever have happened. Cruz should have been arrested for if not anything else assaulting another student with a knife but he was given school disciplinary action or whatever the democrats prefer over letting the criminal justice system handle it. With a record he would not ever been able to purchase the gun.
There have been so many comments on here earlier about not going up against an AR-15 with a handgun. If a cop won't do it, what makes you think a teacher with little to no training will?
There are others who waited also from his sheriff's department, you will never hear, while other surrounding city police charged toward the fight as trained.
If one has never been in that exact situation, hard to truly criticize.
Hire veterans to arm guard the schools.
The sheriff should retire, be fired or walk away. He dropped the ball before the shooting. He left it to a brave honorable unarmed coach and others to protect students while he and his crew failed. Afterwards this turd goes on TV and attempts to embarrass and blame the spokesperson for the NRA, letting the audience call her murderer and other names. If this dude was a decent man he would have defended this lady. Makes this LEO feel ashamed of their lack of action(s).
He probably left his armour at home. Don't leave home without it
Paid to do a job. Did not perform duties as required, now lose pension.
"Anonymous said...
There have been so many comments on here earlier about not going up against an AR-15 with a handgun. If a cop won't do it, what makes you think a teacher with little to no training will?
February 23, 2018 at 7:13 AM"
You can't compare. Someone such as a teacher who may come face to face with the killer after they breach a classroom will possibly act differently then someone whose training tells them to run to the threat. Besides they will have training. We know a retired teacher from down south and she was on the schools "first response team." This particle school district has been arming teachers for years. She was required to "qualify" much more then police officers. Every few months and from what I understand police do it once a year.
7:31 no it's not hard to criticize. He took the job. No one made him. He knew the risks and what it involved. He wasn't willing to put himself in danger to do what he was paid to do. Very easy to criticize.
Trained officer didn't have the balls to go in there but teachers will right?!
Can't spell particular but has it all figured out...
Like lots of LEOs, he was more focused on his pension and staying alive that day to collect it, than doing his job and saving the students lives that he was being paid to protect. He was "serving and protecting" himself, and no one else, while he listened to the bloodbath taking place on his watch. All so HE could live and collect that pension. It is why most cops that I know (personally) only go to work every day is to get to that pension, and not from any sense of duty to serve and protect civilians.
Why is it that law enforcement never enters when there is an active shooter, and always waits until the shooting stops? We all know the answer. But we are supposed to all mourn a police officer when THEY die in the line of duty, which even includes them having single car accidents at high speed, negligently losing control of their government supplied vehicle.
$70,000+ salary and an oath to serve and protect. A teenage ROTC cadet, who got full military honors posthumously, had more courage.
7:46 Trained teachers? The same amount of training as cop or swat member? How many inservice/teachers's days is that going to take? You people already complain about the time teachers are not in the classroom but are being paid. Who is going to pay for the training, guns, safes and eventually the lawsuits when they shoot an innocent?
Am a teacher. There is no time for hours and hours of swat training. However, I guess I could focus less on my students and more on the eventual need to resolve an active shooter situation.
So there was a "good guy with a gun" and it did no good. It's almost as if people become scared at the threat of death and don't automatically react like Rambo. Good thing we have an internet forum full of the bravest men and women on the face of the Earth!
Govt wont spend money on healthcare for their own people. Govt suggests funding an academic militia. This is the most American thing I've ever seen
February 23, 2018 at 8:10 AM:
Wow, you go tell the kids that's its too expensive to invest in training that will save their lives. Better yet, tell YOUR kids why you think it is better that they die unprotected, without a front line defense against an active shooter in their school, rather than spending the money to train and arm teachers to protect them. Either you have no kids to love and protect, or you are just a moron for complaining about the cost of protecting them.
Anonymous said...
If one has never been in that exact situation, hard to truly criticize.
February 23, 2018 at 7:31 AM
No, no it's not actually. Maybe it's just easy for you to excuse and justify why someone paid and trained to act a certain way in these situations refuses?
"Anonymous said...
Am a teacher. There is no time for hours and hours of swat training. However, I guess I could focus less on my students and more on the eventual need to resolve an active shooter situation.
February 23, 2018 at 8:19 AM"
Well then it's time for you to get another profession. This is a different age and school shootings are a real threat. If you are not ready willing and able to "progress" with the times then you need to get the hell out of the profession! What you said is disgusting and you are no teacher so don't you dare say you are. You are just another one of the lazy asses filling the seat counting the days until you retire. Shame on you!
He wasn't a "good guy with a gun." He was a product of the liberal mindset hug a thug mentality. He was a coward. A good guy with a gun was the NRA trained man who confronted the church shooter in KY a few months ago with his gun. Not only confronted but chased him down.
Don't you just love it when you get a letter from the police union begging for money? When ever I get a letter like that it goes in the circular file. I'm not knocking the cops but I think if I was a cop I would be embarassed to think my national organization was out begging for money.Of course there is always a bumper sticker in there that says I support the police so I guess a lot of people think that sticker is going to save them from getting a ticket.
" Anonymous said...
Trained officer didn't have the balls to go in there but teachers will right?!
February 23, 2018 at 7:54 AM"
The idea that some teachers may be armed would deter someone from even considering going to that school and trying anything. The fact that the school resource officer wasn't a good ENOUGH guy with a gun proves one armed person is not enough.
The school did nothing with incident after incident with Cruz. The Cops did nothing after being sent to this Cruz’s home time after time. The FBI did nothing after being informed about the danger of this armed Cruz. Now the school cop hid like a snowflake while the kids he was responsible to protect were getting slaughtered by Cruz... and they want to blame the NRA and the second amendment...
Bottom line the democrat policies are to blame. The laws are already in place that would have prevented Cruz from buying the AR-15. The breakdown and what place the gun right in his hands are the policies implemented by the democrats and their stop the "School to Prison Pipeline" by allowing violent students to get away with incident after incident.
8:19 many of us in the private sector are constantly having to learn new things and it doesn't come at the expense of less focus on other aspects of the job. It's part of being employed. It seems you can't handle it and as suggested above you need to find another job that isn't so taxing on your poor little self you piss poor excuse for a human being much less a teacher! If you aren't willing to take a few extra steps to protect your students then get your sorry ass the hell out and may the door hit you so hard in that ass that your are scarred for life! You lazy POS.
“Finkelstein says Israel has embraced the African-American community and the philosophy that public safety is not just about arrests but giving some people a second chance, and cites the sheriff’s support for a program to give juveniles civil citations instead of jail time for non-violent offenses.”
“Israel’s strength has been outreach, including to the black and gay communities. On the night that same-sex marriage became legal, Israel attended three weddings of BSO workers.”
“Some of Israel’s positions have at times put him at odds with other sheriffs in Florida.
In 2013, when the Florida Sheriffs Association expressed support for the controversial Stand Your Ground law, Israel said he wanted legislative changes to more narrowly restrict the use of the law.”
Focused on students since when? Your just as worried about your benefits as the police officer. We all know public education has been **** for decades now.
No time? Out of all the feed state county employees teachers work less time then any. You work 9 months of the year, less then 8 hours a day. Yet complain about lack of salary. What a joke. Why don't you take that long cushy summer break and train to protect the kids. Cause we all know you barely teach the kids. If it doesn't involve global warming, black history month, conservative bashing, dumbed down common core math, or passing failing students - you don't have enough time.
In all likelihood the sheriff's deputy was told a shooter drill was going to occur soon, just like the multiple vids of student interviews said, students were told of the shooter drill that was going to happen just like fire drills....you did see those vids and statements right?
Statements of witnesses seeing multiple shooters at each end of the halls? Black powder on the floors {accumulates from shooting blanks}
Gas mask and maroon sweatshirt, how do you id a face covered with a gas mask? How is a maroon T mistaken for a sweatshirt? Kid walking to work like everyday without concern after killing 17 and wounding many more....thats a big stretch even for an insane individual. Wheres the shot up walls? Wheres the security vids? Media has ALWAYS shone the collateral damage....mysteriously there is none, only child actors lying in the floors and immediately protesting, interviews with children that have never gone to that school. Orchestrated , controlled and scripted by the biggest propaganda machine out there, lying to American for years, CNN. DO NOT DRINK THE KOOL-AID.
Their mission as the enemy is to scare you out of your protection, the 2A, because the 2A protects the 1stA and keeps enemies at bay.
I'd almost bet the good sheriff would have called for backup and waited. The deputy had enough time in to retire, he's going to dive head first into a shooting? Hind sight is a wonderful thing.
I imagine your child would be one of the students who can barely muster a C for completion with an upbringing like that. There are many teachers who punch in and punch out, use the same lesson plans year after year and do not work with students after school. I don't think learning how to confront an active shooter in a school full of panicking children is as simple as "learning a new thing". What part of being a teacher requires that? You learning how to flip a burger and then rotate it is nowhere near the same thing. Maybe you should take a look in the mirror at the ugly person you are
Lol what'd you learn how to do? Tie your shoes instead of velcro?
Insulting a teacher, let me guess you work a dead end blue collar job with no savings and you rent?
You clearly didnt pick up on their sarcasm did you? Putting guns everywhere is hardly progress. Now get back to work, the deep frier is empty
The fact that the school resource officer wasn't a good ENOUGH guy with a gun proves one armed person is not enough.
February 23, 2018 at 9:07 AM
We will never know since he didn't even TRY.
Trained officer didn't have the balls to go in there but teachers will right?!
There is a difference. He didn't go in but the teachers were already in there unable to protect their self or the children. See the difference?
I'm not ready to throw this officer under the bus like the democratic lover sheriff is. No officer is going to run into a building where shooting is going on without assessing the situation first. What good does running do if he gets shot as soon as he gets inside? I could have taken 4 minutes just to figure out where in the school he was and what his beth approach would be.
Insulting a teacher, let me guess you work a dead end blue collar job with no savings and you rent?
I'm not really sure who you are addressing since you didn't mention that in your post.
Do you have a problem with blue collar jobs? Remember that next time you need your vehicle fix, your sink is leaking, your electric has problems, your lawn needs to be cut, you need to buy groceries, you need a house built, oh yeah and keep collecting that paycheck, you know the one that the taxes from the blue collar workers have to pay for.
I would guess you work for Wicomico County Schools? Let me give you a heads up. Ninety percent of the teachers aren't worth half of what they are paid. That is why they are stuck here and not working for a credible school system.
Am a teacher. There is no time for hours and hours of swat training. However, I guess I could focus less on my students and more on the eventual need to resolve an active shooter situation.
February 23, 2018 at 8:19 AM"
For years they raise our taxes and say "it's for the children". Well now we can throw it back at you.
With the proliferation of assault weapons the guns the deputies have are pea shooters. Arming a teacher would be worse. Untrained , under fire
9:58: more of the same uneducated blather. YOUR kind of attitude is why teachers are not respected in the classroom. You do realize that teachers have each paycheck split to cover the summer months? They already EARNED that money but choose (or not) to have it distributed. Less than 8 hours? Ba ha HA! MANY (not all) teachers spend an average of 10 hours a day “on the job”. Grading papers (example: 6 periods x 30 kids x 3 page essay = a LOT of grading time!), parent and staff meetings, after school activities, differentiated lesson plans, outlines/whiteboard/presentations, homework, and administrative paperwork. Add in the untrained urchins they have to deal with all day.
If it’s such a cushy job, why aren’t you doing it? YOU get up in front of 30 kids 6 hours a day and try to teach them when they are all on different skill levels, don’t apply themselves, act out, refuse to listen and constantly disrupt class. YOU go sit in today’s classroom and watch the kid who just cussed out a teacher get sent from the office back to that teacher’s class with a smirk. YOU take the mark on your record because you send students to the office too many times.
You think you know....but you don’t.
221 this is 958
Maybe I'm missing something here.
I own multiple companies, easily work 12 hours a day 365, on call 24/7 receive 100s of emails and dozens of phone calls a day, multiple employees, yet if somehow me carrying a gun and receiving training to protect the children who may or may not be at workplace could in turn prevent the children who may or may not be at my workplace from being injured or killed I would do it in a heartbeat!
Teachers choose the job, they were not assigned the job. If you are not willing to protect the children, regardless of how busy you may or may not be then you should quit and find another job, period
I think I know common sense... But I don't think you do
Teachers graduated college to teach students, not to ride shotgun on the stage.
That said, if they wish to volunteer to get additional training to carry I'm OK with that. Some extra pay, and larger life insurance benefits should balance out the added risks.
Bear in mind that in most situations of this sort current thinking/practice is to hunker down out of sight behind locked doors. The other part of this approach is that on-site and arriving officers should head for and engage the attacker.
The sheriff in Florida is reported to have confirmed that was the policy. Sadly there now appear to have been a number of his employees who did not try to get inside, and the attacker was able to escape.
The sheriff and his failed employees should be looking for work, in addition to whatever legal troubles they face.
I don't know about anyone else, but if Im in the classroom already and can't go anywhere anyway and the shooter is for some reason, able to get in the classroom, I'd probably wish I had a gun.too. If you have a gun and have training, aim and shoot at his head and heart. He's gonna be shooting regardless. At least you have a chance to live. Id bet that the unarmed teachers,if they survive, would change their mind quick. I guess that you have to learn the lesson , by actually going through something like this yourself
In that jurisdiction, poor performing deputies are assigned to "school safety duty" and admin work as an alternative to firing, which can result in costly and sometimes unsuccessful lawsuits in which the county faces huge costs even it it wins.
My guess is that it's no different in the sheriff department in Wicomico County.
7:31 If one has been trained I expect him to do his job. If one was afraid he should not have taken the job.
9:01 Bingo!!
Bravo 1:20
\" Anonymous said...
Trained officer didn't have the balls to go in there but teachers will right?!
February 23, 2018 at 7:54 AM"
Duh! A teacher is already inside the building Einstein. The point is they are defenseless and are going to die if a shooter gets in. At least they would have a bit of a chance if they were armed themselves.
The public schools are a nightmare. Some of the nonsense is almost laughable if not so sad.
It's said of disruptive students that you can't tell them to do something. You have to ask them to do something. "They respond better to this." You have to use "positive reinforcement" when they do something they should be doing to begin with. Rewarding them for what they should be doing instead of punishing for bad behavior. This only proves to kids they can get away with bad behavior because their are no consequences.
Between this and the trophy for all/participation medal ideology has made kids a mess.
The teachers are to blame. They don't have to take it but they do. They don't want to risk losing their jobs.
Duh,what orders via radio were the officers receiving? Were they told to not enter the building or to enter the building? They were seen talking on their radios so what was it about? Are we to wait until the scanner community chimes in & tells us they were ordered to stand down? Certainly military vets would have immediately gone in if they hadn't been ordered not to.Pretty darned simple;WHAT WERE THEIR ORDERS VIA RADIO AND WHO GAVE THOSE ORDERS?Will this be a mystery voice like in the Benghazi case when the Marines were told to stand down and no one ever owned up to giving those orders.
If a cop won't do it, what makes you think a teacher with little to no training will?
February 23, 2018 at 7:13 AM
First, teachers WILL be trained. That's been repeated many times on this subject.
Cops WILL do it and HAVE done it. These particular cops did NOT do it or even try to do it. That is a big difference.
AND, arming any teacher is VOLUNTARY. Any teacher who signs up to be armed will do so because they WANT to. That shows they have the motivation to do it.
You people assume too much and falsely. I am sure they can find a teacher or two who will want to not only protect themselves but their students as well. A football coach did it UNARMED. So there has to be some who would do it armed.
Who are you people who keep trying to find excuses to not do anything?
And even the knowledge that some teachers may be armed would be a deterrent to a lot of cowardly would-be assassins. Right now these maggots have free reign because of gun-free zones. They have to be abolished.
Some people keep screaming for someone to do something. Then when something is proposed, it is not good enough for them. All they know how to squeak out of their mousy mouths is more gun control. More laws. More of the same CRAP that these killers don't pay any attention to in the first place. You people really think they will obey a new law if only it is worded correctly or whatever nonsense you are thinking?
I know, you guys just throw an eraser at the killer and beg real nice for him not to kill you. I'm sure that would work better, right?
The liberal sheriff might have a anti gun agenda to let maniacs with guns do whatever then claim guns are the blame
In all fairness - we don't know the whole circumstances. We don't know if he knew he was close to the shooter. We don't know the school surroundings. What type of gun the officer had and if the officer knew he was outnumbered in size of shooters gun. Was the shooter alone. All of this and more was going through his head. Isn't it true that an officer should always have back up. He probably knew he would die without saving someones life because the shooter was carrying a heavier weapon. I would like all the facts before comment. I just know next thing he had to be scared- I know I would.
Probably a spell check error
How could any fool disagree with arming a few staff and teachers? One teacher minimally trained to fire a glock 9mm could have ended this incident with minimal casualties. The other side of the coin is that these coward shooters are looking for easy targets such as those in “gun free zones”. They know there will be no armed opposition. Having these clowns concerned that someone will be there to fire back would provide the incentive to look elsewhere. I am armed every day and have a 9mm and a .45 close by at night when in bed and I live in an extremely low crime area. One never knows when a home invasion will occur or an attack in a grocery ora department store. I agree that an armed society is a polite society. Grew up in Snow Hill in 50s and early 60s and I along with most of my friends had .22 rifles and handguns that we took shooting at various rural areas of the county. There was never any issues or problems with us being armed and even having those guns in our vehicles at school. Had a trooper stop me on Berlin Road once and asked me not to shoot near the highway and then drove off,
Roving school Marshalls
Pick a school unannounced and spend 1 to 4 hrs there.
Keeps people on there toes.
Anonymous said...
In all fairness - we don't know the whole circumstances. We don't know if he knew he was close to the shooter. We don't know the school surroundings. What type of gun the officer had and if the officer knew he was outnumbered in size of shooters gun. Was the shooter alone. All of this and more was going through his head. Isn't it true that an officer should always have back up. He probably knew he would die without saving someones life because the shooter was carrying a heavier weapon. I would like all the facts before comment. I just know next thing he had to be scared- I know I would.
February 25, 2018 at 10:37 PM
We know, and those deputies knew, someone was in a building killing kids and possibly teachers. THAT is enough to know to act. It doesn't matter what caliber the weapon was. And NO, an officer does not have to wait for backup to engage an active shooter. That is in the movies.
And even when they had your "backup" 4 deputies STILL hid outside. They were cowards, they didn't follow their own policy and people died as a result.
This is what they are paid and trained for. They failed, plain and simple. This sheriff is trying to find any excuse he can and blaming everyone he can think of instead of himself, where the real blame lies.
He/they don't need any help finding excuses/blaming others from you or anyone else.
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