DeSantis: Decision coming ‘soon’

Governor mum on what he’s decided to do about Broward Sheriff Israel

Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to say Wednesday if he’s decided to suspend Broward Sheriff Scott Israel. In response to questions about the controversial sheriff’s fate, DeSantis said people would find out soon.

In a brief news conference in Miami on his second day in office, DeSantis was asked about reports that Israel has told his staff he expects he’ll be suspended from office by the new governor — and whether there is a timeline for an announcement.

“All I can I can say is to the people of South Florida: I shall return very soon,” the governor said.

After some reporters’ questions about the reason for his stop in Miami — the appointment of a new justice to the Florida Supreme Court — DeSantis got another Israel question.

“I shall return. We will let you know when we’re back — and it’s not going to take forever,” DeSantis said.

Israel’s leadership of the Broward Sheriff’s Office has come under intense scrutiny, and he’s received extensive criticism, over the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in which 17

people were killed and 17 wounded.

Many family members of victims and people in Parkland, where the school is located, blame Israel for the agency’s handling of the killer during interactions before the shooting and the way it handled the situation on the day of the massacre.

Israel’s agency came under scrutiny over repeated visits to the school shooter’s home before the massacre, a deputy’s failure to enter the school and try to stop the shooting, and Israel’s assertion of leadership prowess in a widely panned cable television interview.

During the campaign, DeSantis said if he’d been governor at the time, he’d have suspended Israel from office.

DeSantis