Former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Peterson said he didn’t run into the school during the massacre because he thought the shooting came from outside.
The gunman who murdered 17 at a Parkland high school is looking forward to his trial
Former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Peterson told reporters after a court hearing that Nicholas Cruz was among 14 students and a colleague of Marjory Stoneman at Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. He said the public needed to know he did what he could. Peterson, the school’s deputy commandant at the time, said he did not storm the three-story classroom building during the six-minute massacre because he thought dozens of shots came from outside. At the time, he had a handgun.
Some victims’ parents refer to Peterson as “the Broward Coward”
Peterson, 60, has been charged with seven counts of child abandonment and three counts of gross negligence for shooting and killing 10 people on the third floor after Cruz arrived at the building, six of whom died. The former lieutenant will not be charged with killing 11 people and injuring 13 others on the ground floor before he arrived. “I hope the truth comes out, but if it comes through the process, so be it. I’m excited,” Peterson said.