Global Courant
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — A police officer who stormed into a high school during the 2018 Parkland to shoot testified Friday that a deputy outside confirmed the shooter was upstairs.
Former Broward County deputy Scot Peterson is on trial for failing to confront the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Since speaking to investigators two days after the massacre, he has maintained that he could not say where the gunshots came from and that he believed they may have been fired outside.
On the third day of Peterson’s trial, Coral Springs officer Richard Best related what he says Peterson told him outside the classroom: WPLG TV reported.
“I said, ‘Hey brother, what have we got?'” Best told the jury. “He said, ‘Gunshots second or third floor.'”
Peterson, 60, could face nearly a century in prison if convicted.
“Obviously, the longer you wait, the more damage is done,” Best said. “Every time you heard a shot, someone could be dead.”
Peterson is accused of failing to confront gunman Nikolas Cruz before the gunman reached the third floor of the building, where he killed six people. The deputy will not be charged in connection with the 11 deaths on the first floor before he reached the building.
Peterson arrived at the building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before Cruz reached the third floor. Peterson took cover 80 feet away in the alcove of a neighboring building, his pistol drawn. He didn’t leave his spot for about 40 minutes – about 35 minutes after the shooting stopped.
Arman Borghei, who was a student on the third floor of the building during the shootings, said he looked out a window and saw Peterson below with his gun drawn.
Borghei said he was “really scared and wondering when help would come,” but he never saw Peterson approach the building.
Best testified that he considered it his job to risk his life to stop a threat and render aid.
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“It’s not like I want to go in alone as a police officer,” Best said. “But that’s our training — to go in.”
The most serious charges against Peterson are seven counts of felony child neglect.
To convict Peterson of child neglect, prosecutors must first demonstrate that he was legally a caretaker of the juvenile students — defined by Florida law as “a parent, adult member of the household, or other person responsible for the well-being of a child.”
If jurors find that Peterson was a caregiver, they must determine whether he made a “reasonable effort” to protect the children or failed to provide the necessary care.
Peterson is the first U.S. law enforcement officer ever charged with alleged failure to act during a school shooting. Likewise the Texas authorities its investigating officers in the town of Uvalde who failed to confront the gunman who killed 19 primary school students and two teachers last year. However, no one has been charged.
The trial began Wednesday and is expected to last two months.
Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year received a life sentence.
