PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - The Coral Springs Police chief addressed the media for the first time on what officers saw upon arriving to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as well as reports of surveillance camera confusion while tracking down the accused gunman.
According to Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Pustizzi, there was a delay in reviewing some surveillance videos that provided a view from inside the Parkland school due to a miscommunication.
“One of the things we try to do is, whenever we get to some place, like in this particular situation, we always try to review video camera footage,” Pustizzi said. “It helps us not only identify what happened but possibly where the perpetrator is. In this case, there was a 20-minute delay … The delay never put us in a situation where any kids’ lives were in danger or any teachers’ lives were in danger. The delay was simply when we got there, and the Sheriff’s Office and our officers and other officers from the community went into that building. The issue was more of a communication failure on who was reviewing the tape, letting our guys know that it was a 20-minute delay with what they were reviewing.”
Pustizzi basically explained there was a lack of communication between the person reviewing the footage and the officers on the scene and no issue with the actual surveillance equipment.
“There was nothing wrong with their equipment, their equipment works. It’s just that when the person was reviewing the tape from 20 minutes earlier, somehow that wasn’t communicated to the officers,” Pustizzi.
Initially, students were shocked when the Sun Sentinel reported that the school’s surveillance cameras were not providing a live feed to first responders.
“We just got to equip the school with better quality equipment,” said student Chris Grady.
The article suggested that officers were looking at a 20-minute delayed video, but the school district released a statement on Thursday that suggested that the article was not accurate.
According to the Broward County School District, during the immediate response to the event, the system was being viewed in real time and the recorded footage was being used to retrace the actions of the shooter.
Scanner traffic from last Wednesday’s shooting shows that one officer realized the video was not in real time.
Officer 1: “They are following him. It’s about a 20-minute delay. They are following him on video — on the camera — they had him exiting the building running south.”
Eventually, officers had to try and figure out what was live and what was delayed.
Officer 1: “He dropped the bag near the stairwell. Standby for further.”
Officer 2: “Gulf 1 on 48 is that from recording? Is that video in school?”
Nurse Mollie Henderson was in the triage area and described the chaotic scene.
“The first group of kids that came out, they were very hurt,” she said.
Henderson said it was quite some time before other injured students began to arrive, and that it was obvious to her the officers were confused by the surveillance video delay.
“I feel that if there was a live video feed, that we could have helped some of those kids,” Henderson said.
Although there was a delay, Coral Springs Police said it did not impact how fast they got to the victims.
“We didn’t really see a delay in any victims coming,” said an officer at the press conference. “It was a steady stream of victims coming out. As they were clearing the building, they had a team right behind them that was doing triage and bringing victims out.”
Henderson said that first responders are heroes, but she will always wonder if more could have been done.
“EMS, they did a great job. Coral Springs Police, they did a great job. The BSO, I was there,” she said, “they did a great job with what they had, but they couldn’t do their job correctly because of the video feed.”
Students are now wondering if the shooter would have managed to get away if officers knew that the video they were watching was delayed.
“I don’t know how quickly they would have caught him if it was on real time,” Grady said. “It’s just really sad to hear that.”
The district did say that the equipment used on Wednesday worked fine. They also said that all the equipment and surveillance video were turned over to investigators.
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