—Newly released surveillance videos show that actions of former school deputy Scot Peterson outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while Nikolas Cruz was killing 17 students and staff.
Peterson, the school resource officer, resigned after being suspended by the Broward Sheriff’s Office for failing to confront the shooter.
“The video speaks for itself,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that accompanied the release of the video. “His actions were enough to warrant an internal affairs investigation, as requested by Sheriff Scott Israel on Feb. 21. After being suspended without pay, Peterson chose to resign and immediately retired rather than face possible termination.”
The video released Thursday starts less than a minute after the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Cruz entered the school and began shooting.
As Peterson is seen running to a golf cart, the first 911 call about the shooting is made to Coral Springs police, according to a Sheriff’s Office timeline.
It appears to show people, whose identities are blurred, coming out of a building. At the time, according to the agency’s timeline, Peterson over his police radio said: “Be advised we have possible, could be firecrackers, I think we have shots fired, possible shots fired – 1200 building.”
Cruz was inside the building for more than three minutes before getting rid of his gun and fleeing, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was arrested over an hour later.
Through his lawyer, Peterson released a statement last week saying that he initially thought the shooter was outside, saying that’s why he didn’t enter the building. But Peterson’s own radio transmissions suggest he had focused on the 1200 building, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, at the request of Gov. Rick Scott, has opened an investigation into the law enforcement response to the shooting.
The videos were made available in response to a lawsuit from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald and CNN against the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the School Board of Broward County.
The media organizations said the public had a right to see the videos under Florida’s public record law.
A Broward circuit judge on Monday authorized the release of the videos.
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