Four Sheriff’s Deputies Hid During Florida School Shooting
Image Credit: AP
Original Article | Author: Ruth Brown
Not one but four sheriff’s deputies hid behind cars instead of storming Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during last week’s school shooting, according to a new report.
Sources from Coral Springs Police Department tell CNN that when officers arrived on the scene, they were shocked to find three Broward County Sheriff’s deputies behind their cars with their weapons drawn.
The school’s armed resource officer, Deputy Scot Peterson was also outside — he resigned Thursday over his failure to act.
The cops entered the building to engage the shooter on their own, and then a new batch of Broward County deputies arrived, and two of those officers — plus an officer from Sunrise, Florida — joined the police inside the building, the sources said.
It’s unclear if the shooter was still inside at the time, CNN reports.
Bad blood has been brewing between the two law enforcement groups ever since the Feb. 14 massacre.
Coral Springs City Manager Mike Goodrum confronted Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel over the incident during a vigil the following day, saying injured kids could have been dying inside the building while the deputies held back, sources tell CNN.
And the next day, Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Pustizzi wrote in an internal memo:
“I understand that another agency has given the impression that it had provided the majority of the rescue efforts, and that the tremendous work of the Coral Springs Police and Fire Departments has not been recognized.”
“Please know that this issue will be addressed, and the truth will come out in time,” he added.
The Coral Springs officers’ experiences will be included in a new report coming out next week, according to the news site.