Deputy vilified after Parkland killings gets $100,000 pension

The former Broward County sheriff’s deputy who did not enter a Parkland, Florida, high school during the massacre there receives more than $100,000 in an annual pension, the state revealed, triggering outrage among the parents of slain students.

In a Wednesday statement, the Florida Department of Management Services said Scot Peterson began receiving his $8,702.35 monthly pension in April after the county attorney general, Michael Satz, found no charges against him that would force Peterson to forfeit his pension.

“The department will continue to monitor the ongoing investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and will continue to follow the law,” spokeswoman Nina Ashley told The Washington Post in the statement.

Peterson took a defense position outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and did not enter the building, even as a gunman killed 17 people in the February incident, videos released by police showed.

The recent revelations about Peterson’s compensation, which would total more than $100,000 annually, sparked a backlash among two vocal parents of students killed in the Parkland shooting.

“This infuriates me in ways people cannot comprehend. My daughter would still be alive if this person did his job,” Fred Guttenberg, father of slain student Jaime Guttenberg, said in response to the news.