Armed school officer stayed outside during attack, sheriff says

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The armed officer on duty at the Florida school where a shooter killed 17 people never went inside to engage the gunman and has been placed under investigation, police announced Thursday.

The Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by a man armed with an AR-15 assault-style weapon has reignited national debate over gun laws and school safety, including proposals by President Donald Trump and others to designate more people — including trained teachers — to carry arms on school grounds. Gun-control advocates have redoubled their push to ban assault rifles.

The school resource officer at the high school took up a position viewing the western entrance of the building that was under attack for more than four minutes, but “he never went in,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said at a Thursday news conference.

Sheriff Israel said he made the decision after reviewing video surveillance from Feb. 14 and interviewing witnesses, including the deputy himself.

The officer, Scot Peterson, was suspended without pay and placed under investigation, then chose to resign, Sheriff Israel said. When asked what Deputy Peterson should have done, Sheriff Israel said the deputy should have “went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer.”

The sheriff said he was “devastated, sick to my stomach. There are no words. I mean, these families lost their children. I’ve been to the funerals. I’ve been to the vigils. There are no words.”

Deputy Peterson, 54, has been a school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas since 2009. He began working for the sheriff’s office in 1985. His annual salary in 2016 was $75,673.72, according to sheriff’s office records.

Officials, including Sheriff Israel, have been asked about where Deputy Peterson was at the time of the shooting.

“Deputy Peterson was on campus,” Sheriff Israel said at a news conference Wednesday. “He was armed. And as our command staff moves forward on this investigation, the response and actions of Deputy Peterson will be looked at and scrutinized, as will everyone’s.”

Asked whether Deputy Peterson fired his gun, Sheriff Israel said, “He did not.”

The suspect, 19-yearold Nikolas Cruz, has been jailed on 17 counts of murder and has admitted the attack. Defense attorneys, state records and those who knew him indicate that he displayed behavioral troubles for years. He owned a collection of weapons.