Judge approves release of more Parkland video

Recordings show school’s exterior on day of shooting

A Broward judge on Wednesday authorized the public release of more video from cameras positioned outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during February’s mass shooting.

The video may shed more light on the law enforcement response to Nikolas Cruz’s Feb. 14 rampage, during which he shot 17 people to death and wounded 17 others.

Attorneys for the Broward School Board argued in court earlier this month that the video will expose the limits of the cameras on campus and weaken school security. The Broward State Attorney’s Office also argued against releasing any video records, saying they are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.

But Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey R. Levenson reviewed hours of video and determined that they should be released to the public — the video is not part of an active criminal investigation, he said, and

the “potential harm” to the school’s security system is “outweighed by the strong public interest in disclosure.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel and several other media organizations filed a lawsuit asking for video outside the school to be released in the public interest. After an initial batch was released, media organizations concluded from various public statements that additional video existed that shows more of the law enforcement response to the shooting. The Sheriff ’s Office is investigating allegations by other agencies that several BSO deputies failed to enter the school to help wounded students or engage Cruz when they arrived on the scene.

The school board will have two weeks to review the video and appeal Levenson’s decision.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office previously released some of the video March 15. It focused on the response of School Resource Officer Scot Peterson, a uniformed deputy who took up a position against the wall of one building and stood there for about 25 minutes, until well after Cruz had completed the killings in an adjacent building and left the campus. Peterson later resigned.

Several family members of the victims in the case signed affidavits urging Levenson to honor their loved ones’ memories by keeping some of the videos private. Attorneys for the media organizations seeking the release stressed that they did not want to obtain videos showing victims.

In a separate development in the Cruz case, the Broward Clerk of Courts determined that Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted, is not indigent and should pay for his own legal defense. The clerk’s office made the determination last week, finding Cruz had too many assets to be entitled to a taxpayer-funded defense.

The Broward Public Defender’s Office is seeking to have Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer consider additional factors, including the likely cost of his defense and pending lawsuits, to override the decision.