S. Fla. sheriff defiant as scrutiny increases
State lawmaker calls for his removal in aftermath of massacre
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Sunday he should bear no responsibility for the missed warning signs before the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 students and faculty dead.
“I can only take responsibility for what I knew about,” said Israel in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I’ve given amazing leadership to this agency.”
Israel has faced intensifying questions about the agency’s response to the massacre following the revelation that an armed deputy on the scene did not enter the school while the shooter was inside. That deputy, Scot Peterson, retired last week after being suspended.
Israel said Sunday he should not be faulted for Peterson’s actions. “You don’t measure a person’s leadership by a deputy not going in,” he said.
Republican state Rep. Bill Hager sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott on Saturday attacking Israel for “neglect and incompetence” and calling for his removal. Israel said Sunday, “Of course I won’t resign” and said the letter was “shameful” and “politically motivated.”
National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch, speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” accused the sheriff’s office of “dereliction of duty” and said Israel should face increased scrutiny.
“I wish that as much attention were given to the Broward County sheriff and their abdication of duty as trying to blame 5 million innocent law-abiding gun owners all across the country for this,” Loesch said. “I want to see as much attention on the Broward County sheriff, the FBI, the two FBI tips and the numerous calls. ... Families and neighbors called the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report this individual, and they did not follow up.”
David Hogg, a senior at the school, called Israel “a good man” during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” and said “he cares about the people.” But Hogg said there were breakdowns in procedures. “Were there mistakes made? Absolutely.”
More than a dozen calls were made to authorities with warnings about the accused shooter, 19-yearold Nikolas Cruz, before the attack. Israel said Sunday that most of them were handled appropriately but that in two of the calls “we’re not sure if deputies did everything they could have or should have.”
Israel said an internal investigation into the agency’s handling of the shooting is ongoing. “We will investigate every action of our deputies, of our supervisors,” he said, “and if they did things wrong I’ll take care of business in a disciplinary matter, just like I did with Peterson.”
During a six-minute rampage inside the Parkland high school, police say, Cruz fatally shot 17 students and faculty before blending in with fleeing teenagers and escaping the campus. He was taken into custody later that afternoon.
He faces a potential death sentence.
Police from the neighboring city of Coral Springs have said three other Broward deputies besides Peterson were waiting behind cars outside the school when they responded to the shooting. Israel said Sunday that only Peterson, then the school resource officer, was at the school during the shooting.
A spokeswoman for Israel’s office, in a statement released late Saturday, insisted there was “no confirmation, at this time, other deputies did not enter the school when they should have.” She said this claim continues to be investigated.
The Coral Springs police said in a statement that they were “aware of media reports” but were not going to comment due to the ongoing investigation.
The Washington Post has been unable to reach Peterson, who has not spoken publicly.
Andrew Pollack, the father of Meadow Pollack, one of the students who died in Parkland, addressed Peterson during an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning.
“There is a one deputy that worked there. Peterson. He worked there and he’s a coward,” Pollack said. “He stood by the door. I know for a fact that he could have made it to the third floor ... if he wasn’t some little ... Words can’t even describe the way that I think about him. But I am not trying to think about that stuff because that’s just negative and it’s just going to make me toxic.”
Some survivors of the attack have said they understand Peterson’s reluctance to go inside given that he may have been afraid, while others have expressed frustration at the warning signs missed over the years.
But they also said most students are focusing their anger on pushing for new gun control laws rather than blaming anyone for failures leading up to or during the shooting.
“I’m not angry; I understand that things happen,” said Carly Novell, a 17-yearold senior who survived the massacre. “But really the only way that it could have been prevented is gun control. It all leads back to the gun. He couldn’t have killed all these people if he didn’t have a gun.”