Thread: At least 20 injured in Florida high school mass shooting

Florida to launch probe into police response to school shooting

Florida school shooting: Officer Scot Peterson defends actions

2/26/18

The armed school officer branded a coward by President Donald Trump has defended his actions during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Scot Peterson was outside the school when a gunman killed 17 people, but did not go inside as shots rang out.

His attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, said his client believed the gunfire was coming from outside the school.
He followed his training by taking cover and prompting a lockdown, the lawyer said.
Mr DiRuzzo said it was "patently untrue" that Mr Peterson was a coward on the day.
Mr Peterson, a veteran officer who had been assigned to guard the high school, resigned last week after his boss, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, suspended him without pay.

Sheriff Israel said that footage from the scene had left him "devastated" and "sick to

But Mr DiRuzzo accused the sheriff of "at best, gross oversimplification", saying he "jumped to a conclusion" about Mr Peterson's behaviour.

'Trained to seek cover'

Mr Peterson said he had originally "received a call of firecrackers".

Only when he ran towards the sound, he said, did he realise it was gunshots.
Broward Sheriff's Office had trained him to seek cover and assess the situation in the event of outdoor gunfire, his lawyer said. Mr Peterson did so, and then told the sheriff's office he had heard shots, prompting a "Code Red" lockdown of the school campus.

When police arrived, he told them he thought the gunman was outside - a belief backed up by "radio transmissions [which] indicated that there was a gunshot victim in the area of the football field," Mr Peterson said.

His lawyer said in a statement: "Let there be no mistake, Mr Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the 17 victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need.
"However, the allegations that Mr Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue."

Mr Peterson's clarification came after the president claimed he would have run into the Florida high school if he had been there, even if he had not been armed.

"I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon," Mr Trump told a group of state governors at the White House on Monday.

Mr Trump also said it was "frankly, disgusting" that officers reportedly did not confront the suspect on 14 February.

Broward County Sheriff's Office is reportedly also investigating why three of its deputies appeared to remain outside the building with their guns drawn as the attack unfolded.

Mr Trump criticised those officers as well, saying they "weren't exactly medal of honour winners"- a reference to the US military award for valour.
In Florida, students are preparing to return full-time to their classrooms on Wednesday after some attended a volunteer "orientation" on Sunday.

"It's like the first day of school," a 16-year-old girl in attendance told the New York Times.
"But it's not normal at all."

The massacre was the second-deadliest ever shooting at a US school.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at the school, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Police have said he admitted the shooting.

In the aftermath of the attack, students from the school have founded a movement campaigning for gun control, which has seen them march on their state capitol.

President Donald Trump has pledged action on mental health and background checks, hosted a listening session with some students and teachers, and called for teachers to be armed with concealed firearms.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43202800

Now comes the 'cover my arse' excuses. I'm not buying the assertion that he thought the gunfire was coming from outside the school. Over a week of lawyer guidance and this is the best he could come up with?

Parkland Survivor Has Had Enough… Destroys Peterson’s Reputation With 2-Word Bombshell

By Jonathan Pincus February 26, 2018 at 3:01pm

The actions of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson on the day of the deadly shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, continue to be criticized.

Brandon Huff, a senior at the school, sat down with WVSN to discuss that fateful day. In the interview, he provided an eyewitness account of what Peterson was doing while students were being killed.

“She texted me, ‘There is a shooter in the room. I love you,’ so I freaked out,” Huff said, revealing that his girlfriend had texted him from the building that the shooting was occurring in. “I dropped everything in my hands.”

Huff ran toward the building, and upon his arrival he encountered Peterson.
And according to Huff, Peterson’s actions were the opposite of what he was trained to do in a crisis.

“The school resource officer was behind a stairwell wall, just standing there, and he had his gun drawn, and he was just pointing it at the building,” Huff said, referring to Peterson. “And shots started going off inside, you could hear them over and over again.”
Huff then revealed that Peterson “was pointing his gun at nothing.”

“He was pointing his gun at just the building with kids in it, and he was just talking on the radio and he never did anything for four minutes,” Huff added.

The Stoneman Douglas senior recounted how heroic football coach Aaron Feis risked his life by entering the building and shielding students with his body — an act Peterson shied away from, even with a firearm and a bulletproof vest.

“He’s the only one with the gun, he’s wearing a bulletproof vest, and you know, he has all that, school security guards — coaches, pretty much — were shielding kids … and losing their lives while he did nothing,” he said.

Huff was then asked what he would say to Peterson if offered the chance. The student didn’t hold back, noting that he believes Peterson to be “despicable.”

“You’re despicable. You didn’t do your job,” Huff responded. “You were trained for this. You were armed. You had a bulletproof vest. You were protected more than anyone else who died, who lost their lives, and you did nothing.”

“You froze. You got scared. You did nothing at all, and you could have saved a lot of lives.”

As reported by The Western Journal, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office has been under intense scrutiny after it was discovered that Peterson refrained from entering the building throughout the course of the shooting. What’s more, additional sheriff’s deputies also allegedly waited outside before going in.
This isn’t the first time the department has been criticized for failing to act appropriately during a crisis.

A 99-page report drafted by department officials revealed that the BSO failed to secure the shooting area during the 2017 Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting that left five people dead and six more injured.

https://www.westernjournal.com/parkl...tm_content=ttp

Originally Posted by artist

Parkland Survivor Has Had Enough… Destroys Peterson’s Reputation With 2-Word Bombshell

By Jonathan Pincus February 26, 2018 at 3:01pm

The actions of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson on the day of the deadly shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, continue to be criticized.

Brandon Huff, a senior at the school, sat down with WVSN to discuss that fateful day. In the interview, he provided an eyewitness account of what Peterson was doing while students were being killed.

“She texted me, ‘There is a shooter in the room. I love you,’ so I freaked out,” Huff said, revealing that his girlfriend had texted him from the building that the shooting was occurring in. “I dropped everything in my hands.”

Huff ran toward the building, and upon his arrival he encountered Peterson.
And according to Huff, Peterson’s actions were the opposite of what he was trained to do in a crisis.

“The school resource officer was behind a stairwell wall, just standing there, and he had his gun drawn, and he was just pointing it at the building,” Huff said, referring to Peterson. “And shots started going off inside, you could hear them over and over again.”
Huff then revealed that Peterson “was pointing his gun at nothing.”

“He was pointing his gun at just the building with kids in it, and he was just talking on the radio and he never did anything for four minutes,” Huff added.

The Stoneman Douglas senior recounted how heroic football coach Aaron Feis risked his life by entering the building and shielding students with his body — an act Peterson shied away from, even with a firearm and a bulletproof vest.

“He’s the only one with the gun, he’s wearing a bulletproof vest, and you know, he has all that, school security guards — coaches, pretty much — were shielding kids … and losing their lives while he did nothing,” he said.

Huff was then asked what he would say to Peterson if offered the chance. The student didn’t hold back, noting that he believes Peterson to be “despicable.”

“You’re despicable. You didn’t do your job,” Huff responded. “You were trained for this. You were armed. You had a bulletproof vest. You were protected more than anyone else who died, who lost their lives, and you did nothing.”

“You froze. You got scared. You did nothing at all, and you could have saved a lot of lives.”

As reported by The Western Journal, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office has been under intense scrutiny after it was discovered that Peterson refrained from entering the building throughout the course of the shooting. What’s more, additional sheriff’s deputies also allegedly waited outside before going in.
This isn’t the first time the department has been criticized for failing to act appropriately during a crisis.

A 99-page report drafted by department officials revealed that the BSO failed to secure the shooting area during the 2017 Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting that left five people dead and six more injured.

https://www.westernjournal.com/parkl...tm_content=ttp

Just as I thought. Thank you, artist, you just validated my early comment.

Believe body cameras were part of obama's legacy to change police tactics to "protect the community from wrongful police aggression". Sounds like Israel was an obama follower.

Report: Sheriff Israel Commanded Deputies To Stay Outside Building For 1 Infuriating Reason

By Chris Agee
February 27, 2018 at 10:56am

In the wake of a mass shooting that left 17 students and faculty members dead at a Florida high school earlier this month, a series of apparently missed warning signs and law-enforcement lapses has resulted in widespread criticism of multiple agencies.

At the epicenter of the controversy, however, is Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and his department.

Criticism has grown amid evidence suggesting deputies both failed to adequately follow up on tips about the suspected gunman prior to the Feb. 14 massacre and shirked their responsibility to attempt engagement with him during the attack.

That backlash grew following a recent Fox News Channel report suggesting the first deputies to respond to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were instructed not to enter the Parkland school.

Host Laura Ingraham cited unnamed sources “near the Broward County Sheriffs Office” who claim the three deputies reportedly seen outside of the school when officers from a neighboring agency arrived were prohibited from entering due to the fact that their uniforms were not equipped with body cameras.

During Monday’s broadcast of “The Ingraham Angle,” she said those sources “are telling us that the deputies who arrived at the scene of the shooting were told not to enter the school unless their body cameras were turned on.”
Ingraham went on to report that “we found out that the deputies did not have body cameras, so they did not enter the building or engage with the shooter.”

The host’s speculation regarding Israel’s administration continued as she described communication failures “curiously” reported during the critical moments surrounding the shooting.

“And our source claims that radio communication also went dead during the Ft. Lauderdale airport shooting in 2017 that (Israel) also got a lot of criticism for,” she said.

As the Sun-Sentinel reported, a coalition has grown in recent days among elected officials and activists demanding Israel’s resignation.

https://www.westernjournal.com/repor...tm_content=ttp

Brother of suspected Florida shooter arrested at high school

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