By Brendan Farrington, GARY FINEOUT and Terry Spencer | February 22, 2018 6:56 pm
Florida lead a rally to commemorate the lives of the nine black churchgoers who lost their lives. With our nation grappling over racist violence., local activist groups include Dream Defenders and People's Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism ( or POWIR) came together with members of the community. Candles were lit and the group walked to a near by church to pray.Michele Sandberg/Corbis News
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The armed officer on duty at the Florida school where a shooter killed 17 people never went inside to engage the gunman and has been placed under investigation, officials announced Thursday.
The Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by a gunman armed with an AR-15 style assault rifle has reignited national debate over gun laws and school safety, including proposals by President Donald Trump and others to designate more people — including trained teachers — to carry arms on school grounds. Gun-control advocates, meanwhile, have redoubled their push to ban assault rifles.
The school resource officer at the high school took up a position viewing the western entrance of the building that was under attack for more than four minutes, but “he never went in,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (pictured above) said at a Thursday news conference. The shooting lasted about six minutes.
The officer, Scot Peterson, was suspended without pay and placed under investigation, then chose to resign, Israel said. When asked what Peterson should have done, Israel said the deputy should have “went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer.”
The sheriff said he was “devastated, sick to my stomach. There are no words. I mean these families lost their children. I’ve been to the funerals. I’ve been to the vigils. There are no words.”
There was also a communication issue between the person reviewing the school’s security system footage and officers who responded to the school.
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