Florida deputy thought gunfire was outside, acted appropriately, lawyer says

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14 by using an AR-15. Perhaps Sheriff Israel was throwing Peterson under the bus, but this student wouldn’t have any ulterior motive, except to set the record straight on what he saw as the “despicable” actions of Peterson.

After President Trump said he lacked “courage”, and his own boss said his inaction had made him “sick to [his] stomach”, Broward Country Deputy Scot Peterson – the resource officer at the Florida school where a shooter killed 17 people this month – has released his own version of events in a letter on Monday.

The FBI has already apologized for failing to act on a tip it received about shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz in January, and the governor called for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray. There must be an independent investigation and that is why I asked the FDLE Commissioner to immediately start this process.

Israel called the letter “shameful” and “politically motivated”. The sources told CNN the deputies had their pistols drawn and were waiting behind their vehicles. I work with some of the bravest people I’ve ever met’.

“I can only take responsibility for what I knew about”.

“The Florida Constitution gives you the power to suspend a sheriff for ‘malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty [or] incompetence”, he wrote. The letter Sunday from Corcoran used similar descriptions.

Scott Israel, the Broward County Sheriff, insisted only one of his armed deputies is so far known to have been at fault for staying outside the school during the attack rather than entering to confront the gunman. “I’m proud to be the Sheriff, and I plan to continue on being the Sheriff”.

In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas massacre, Trump was quick to blame the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement for failing to act on “red flags” about Cruz.

At this point, any reasonable reading of the facts can only lead to one conclusion: Israel must resign.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office said it could not comment in detail on the statement from Peterson’s lawyer, but it issued a statement. First as a trickle, then as a flood, the mismanagement and dereliction of duty displayed by the force led by Sheriff Scott Israel has gone from troubling to downright damning.

The FBI has acknowledged that it failed to investigate the tip about Cruz that the agency received on January 5.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has asked state investigators to examine law enforcement agencies’ response to the shooting.

On Saturday, Israel sent a letter to Scott, disputing information from Hager as “riddled with factual errors, unsupported gossip and falsehoods”.

Some politicians have called for Israel’s resignation because his office ignored warnings about Nikolas Cruz, 19, reported in more than a dozen tipster calls.

“It absolutely outrages me that on the CNN town hall we had the sheriff who was virtue-signaling against the NRA and against guns when he didn’t even act properly”, said Kyle Kashuv. An investigator with Florida’s Department of Children and Families spoke to Cruz, but his therapist ultimately advised that he was “not now a threat to himself or others” and did not need to be committed.

A report on what Coral Springs officers observed is expected.

Israel claimed that none of these calls led to anything actionable by the department.