Fort Lauderdale

Charged with cowardice: Former sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer Scot Peterson was charged this week with 11 criminal counts for failing to act during a 2018 shooting that killed 17 students, teachers, and staff. Peterson,

56, the only armed person at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a 19-year-old former student opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle, did “absolutely nothing to mitigate” the carnage, prosecutors said. There was little time to save 11 people murdered on the school’s ground floor, but authorities say killings on the third floor were preventable. Instead, a 15-month investigation found Peterson retreated from the gunfire and hid for 48 minutes. Sgt. Brian Miller, who hid behind his car upon arriving at the school, was also fired but not charged. Third-floor geography teacher Scott Beigel “would be alive today,” said his mother, Linda Schulman, had Peterson not been “standing outside like a coward.”