SHUN SHINE STATE
Fla. massacre survivor: Boycott spring break until new gun laws pass Airlines join corporate backlash vs. NRA
As some of their colleagues hid behind cars outside, these were the cops who ran in toward the bloodbath that was unfolding inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS.
With outrage over reports that at least four Broward County sheriff ’s deputies failed to enter the Parkland, Fla., school building while Nikolas Cruz went on a deadly six-minute shooting rampage, the officers from the Coral Springs Police Department recalled the “awful” and “surreal” experience of treating injured kids and trying to convince terrified victims that it was safe to come out of hiding.
It “was bad as you can imagine — times 10,” Officer Chris Crawford, an ex-Marine, told reporters. “I have a 2-year-old. I don’t want to send him to school.”
Crawford stuffed gauze into the wounds of a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the back, shoulder, thigh and arm, and treated a girl with shrapnel injuries before paramedics arrived, he said.
He then ran into the building, where he found dozens of students who had barricaded themselves inside a classroom.
Crawford had to slide his ID badge under the door to convince the victims they could come out.
“I had to negotiate [with them]. I don’t blame them,” he said.
The day was worse for Sgt. Jeff Heinrich — his wife and son were at the school when the shooting started.
Off duty, Heinrich raced to the school, where he helped care for a wounded kid before more officers arrived.
“It was surreal,” said Heinrich. “You never hope it would happen and it did.” His wife and son made it out uninjured, he said, “by the grace of God.”
A Coral Springs police dispatcher, meanwhile, was left with a heart-wrenching choice: She decided not to give one Stoneman Douglas caller instructions on how to perform CPR on the wounded, fearing the movement would make the caller a target.
“Well, I can’t risk her life to do that, though, so you’re kind of torn for a second,” Julie Vidaud told reporters Friday.
Communications administrator Kathy Liriano heard the gunshots echoing on emergency calls. It was a teacher who told Liriano a student had been shot through a door window, but was out of her reach.
“I asked her, ‘Is there any way that you can go help?’ And she said, ‘I can’t. I can’t help him right now,’ ” Liriano recalled.
The Coral Springs staffers detailed their experiences as reports revealed school Resource Officer Scot Peterson, who was armed, never entered the school as Cruz was killing people.
One mom said she was baffled by Peterson’s decision not to enter: “Maybe he was in shock. There is no explanation.”