Criticized Florida deputy refuses to testify about school massacre
SUNRISE, Fla. — For months, members of the panel investigating Florida’s high school massacre have called the sheriff’s deputy assigned to guard the campus “a coward” for hiding and not rushing inside in an attempt to stop the shooter.
Given an opportunity to confront his critics Thursday, now-retired Broward Sheriff ’s Deputy Scot Peterson sent his attorney instead before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Attorney Joseph DiRuzzo III told the 14-member panel he had filed a lawsuit hours earlier attempting to block their subpoena. Di Ruzzo dropped a copy on the lectern and then walked away.
Fred Guttenberg, whose child Jaime died along with 16 others, said to DiRuzzo as he passed: “He didn’t do his job. My daughter should be alive.”
Peterson, the longtime deputy assigned to Stoneman Douglas, has become the second-most vilified person surrounding the Feb. 14 shooting after suspect Nikolas Cruz.
Security video shows Peterson arrived outside the three-story building where the killings happened shortly after the shooting began, about the same time the gunman finished slaying 11 people on the first floor. Peterson drew his handgun, but retreated to cover next to the neighboring building. The video shows Peterson never left that spot for 50 minutes, even after other deputies and police officers arrived on campus and went inside.
Panel members have said they believe Peterson’s inaction allowed Cruz to climb to the third floor, where five students, including Jamie Guttenberg, and one teacher were killed. They believe if Peterson, 55, had confronted Cruz, who authorities say was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and engaged him in a shootout he could have killed him or given others more time to reach safety.
“Other than the person sitting in a jail cell right now for murdering my daughter, the only other person who comes close to pissing me off as much is Peterson because Peterson could have saved my daughter. My daughter was the second-to-last to be shot … a few more seconds and she would be alive,” Fred Guttenberg told The Associated Press after DiRuzzo left.
Peterson, a decorated 32-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, retired shortly after the shooting rather than accept a suspension while his actions were investigated. He is now receiving a $100,000 annual pension.