SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - The public safety commission investigating the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School examined the response of the school resource officer who did not go into Building 12 as the massacre was unfolding.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission met for the second day for their monthly two-day meeting at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Thursday.
It has been a busy week for the commission as they spoke about school resource officers and security at schools.
The public safety commission learned on Thursday that of the nearly 4,000 schools in Florida, less than 20 completed an optional security assessment in 2017. In the years leading up to the Feb. 14 shooting, zero incidents of bullying or threats were reported at Stoneman Douglas.
“Parents are not going to pressure their school districts if they think everything is fine,” said Max Schachter, father of MSD shooting victim Alex Schachter.
The commission watched an animated clip that was shown on Wednesday that reenacted former School Resource Officer Scot Peterson’s actions on Feb. 14. It also showed confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz entering the Parkland school, as well as the victims in their respective classrooms.
As the clip was playing, the commission simultaneously played radio transmissions of victims’ cellphone calls for help. The clip showed Peterson not going into the building.
“I really don’t think anybody could have done anything about the initial shots on the first floor. That happens so fast,” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. “But [Cruz] went to the second floor, and he went to the third floor, and he had an empty gun in that building five times.”
Peterson resigned in disgrace after it was revealed that he never entered Building 12. He has been subpoenaed to testify before the panel at their next meeting, which is scheduled for October.
“He could have gone in, and he could have just started shooting and putting rounds down a range and potentially killed Cruz and taken him out on the first floor,” Gualtieri said.
By investigating Peterson’s actions, the commission aims to clearly define what the role of a school resource officer should be going forward, especially in the event of a shooting on campus.
“Don’t tell me he loved these kids,” Schachter said. “If they were his kids, he would have gone in, he would have saved them. He let our children be slaughtered.”
More information was learned about Cruz on Wednesday.
The commission also disclosed information about Cruz’s biological mother, 62-year-old Brenda Woodard. She has an extensive criminal history and was arrested nearly 30 times. Authorities said she was a drug addict for years and was homeless most of her life.
Cruz was given up for adoption.
The new information could be used at trial to spare Cruz’s life.
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