Florida school shooting response caught on radio traffic

Source: Associated Press


Terry Spencer and Lisa Marie Pane, Associated Press
Updated 11:07 pm, Friday, March 9, 2018

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — As deputies began responding to last month's deadly Florida school shooting, the school's armed resource officer radioed that shots were coming from the freshman building, but he advised officers to stay back — a seeming failure to follow widely established guidelines to immediately confront the attacker in active shooter situations.

Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson's radio calls in the minutes after the Feb. 14 shooting show he almost immediately realized gunshots were being fired inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That contradicts a statement issued Feb. 26 by his lawyer saying Peterson, who was assigned to the school, "believed that those gunshots were originating from outside any of the buildings on the school campus."

If Peterson knew the location of the shooter, Broward County Sheriff's Office mass shooting guidelines required him to enter the building and kill or stop the gunman. Such protocols are near-universal among U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Peterson, who has denied wrongdoing, retired shortly after the shooting rather than accept a suspension. Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and President Donald Trump publicly criticized his actions and he is being investigated by internal affairs.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Florida-school-shooting-response-caught-on-radio-12742735.php