PARKLAND HS COP CLEARED
A former Florida cop who hid during the deadly 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS has been found not guilty on all 11 counts against him.
After the proceeding, the since-fired cop, Scot Peterson, said the only person responsible for the carnage was “that monster” Nikolas Cruz.
“In any type of incident, do your due diligence and look at the facts,” Peterson told reporters, saying he had gotten his “life back.”
Prosecutors ripped his actions at the murder scene during trial, arguing that he allowed Cruz to roam the hallways and spill blood at will.
“When the defendant ran, he left behind an unrestricted killer who spent the next four minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at his leisure. Because when Scot Peterson ran, he left them in a building with a predator unchecked,” said Kristen Gomes of the Broward County State Attorney’s Office.
But Peterson’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, told jurors that the state had targeted Peterson as a “sacrificial lamb” for the massacre.
The lawyer said it was impossible for Peterson to engage with Cruz because he could not pinpoint where the barrage of gunfire was coming from.
Raft of charges
Peterson had faced seven counts of neglect of a child, along with three culpable-negligence raps and a perjury charge.
Cruz slaughtered 17 students, teachers and staff members with an AR-15 assault rifle in one of the worst mass shootings in the nation’s history.
Peterson was arrested after a 15-month probe into his actions, with investigators asserting that he made no attempt to locate the source of gunshots that rang out on multiple floors during the spree.
Prosecutors said he retreated during the chaos and commanded other arriving police personnel to remain 500 feet away from the school building.
Defense attorneys argued at trial that Peterson could not identify exactly where the shots were booming and called in a Code Red before taking a tactical position to scan the entire scene.
Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of slain Parkland teacher Scott Beigel, ripped Peterson after the verdict to ABC News, saying he bears moral responsibility for his inaction.
She also refused an offer from Peterson to meet with victims’ families.
In a controversial verdict, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison last November after a jury failed to unanimously recommend the death penalty as required by Florida law at the time.