BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA: Scot Peterson, the Parkland school resource officer has been found not guilty by a jury in a case of child neglect and other charges. In 2018, a shooter entered a school facility and killed 17 people including 14 students and it is said that during that time he stayed outside instead of protecting them. The 60-year-old deputy was seen being emotional after the verdict was read. If found guilty, he would have faced a sentence of up to 96 years behind bars.
“To sit in the calmness of a courtroom that is chill and mellow and try to go back and Monday morning quarterback is unfair and unjust,” Peterson's attorney Mark Eiglarsh addressed the jury. A report filed after the aftermath by the prosecutors stated that the gunman was still on the building’s first floor when Peterson arrived two minutes after the first shots were fired. The shooter went on to the school’s third floor and continued with his killing spree while the accused remained outside.
Where was Scot Peterson during the mass shooting?
Scot Peterson, who was hired to protect the students, faced an unprecedented trial after a gunman shot and killed 17 people including 14 students, on charges of neglect and other related counts. As per prosecutors, Peterson ‘failed to protect the victims’ of the brutal high school mass killing, by not entering the building during the incident. As per the court document submitted, the resource officer instead ‘took cover’ outside during the last four minutes and 15 seconds of shooting.
Meanwhile, Peterson and his attorney claim that he did not know from which direction gunshots were coming during the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, Assistant State Attorney Kristen Gomes told the jury in his argument that Peterson’s decision allowed the shooter to carry on with the killing “at his leisure” and that the armed officer “left children trapped inside of the building with a predator unchecked.”
'I’ve got my life back'
After the judgment, an emotional Peterson said: "I’ve got my life back." Peterson, who is also a former deputy for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, called the whole trial "an emotional roller coaster." “The only person to blame was that monster,” Peterson said about the shooter.
He further said, “It wasn’t any law enforcement, nobody on that scene, from BSO, Coral Springs. Everybody did the best they could. We did the best we could with the information we had, and God knows we wish we had more at that point,” reports CNN.
