What the headline should have been: 17 students killed in school shooting as police, armed officer wait to enter building
Now we have some of the facts and the Florida school shooting can be properly framed: a former student returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and slaughtered 17 students, injuring at least 15. The school’s armed resource officer waited 4 minutes or longer to enter the building as local deputies also built a perimeter outside, from behind patrol cars, as bullets flew.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, wore a gas mask, carried smoke grenades and pulled the fire alarm in the frenzied attack.
Identified as Deputy Scot Peterson, the resource officer remained outside for at least four minutes during the six minutes Cruz opened fire inside the school. At least three other Broward sheriff’s deputies waited outside, with details pending further review of video tapes and testimony.
Nikolas Cruz photo/ Instagram
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel discussed the video showing Deputy Peterson outside the building where students were being shot for “upwards of four minutes,” but Israel misled the public on his other officers’ actions: “What I saw was a deputy arrive … take up a position and he never went in,” adding that Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.”
Sgt. Carla Kmiotek, public information officer for the Coral Springs Police Department, would not comment on the story.
Cruz, expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this month, first drew the attention of the FBI back in September after making a shocking comment on a YouTube video about becoming a “school shooter.”
The young man posted on a video clip from the NatGeo show “Alaska State Troopers: Armed and Dangerous,” writing, “I am going to kill law enforcement one day they go after the good people.”
Six months ago, the user wrote, “Im going watch them sheep fall f*ck antifa i wish to kill as many as i can,” on a Youtube video titled “Antifa Gun Club.”
Also nine months ago, Cruz commented, “I am going to do what he did,” on a video about the 1966 sniper shooting at the University of Texas.
Now the FBI says “a person close to” Cruz called the agency’s public tip line on Jan. 5 and left information on Cruz’s “gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.”
Cruz posed proudly online with his weapons, which include pistols and knives, and in one Instagram post, he seemingly asks followers for advice on a certain model of gun: “I plan on getting this but I need more information on it so if someone could give advice on how much I’m spending and background cheeks [sic] please to god let me know.”
Various documents have confirmed that police responded to Cruz’s home 39 times over a seven-year period, and according to KTLA reports: involved calls involving a “mentally ill person,” “child/elderly abuse,” “domestic disturbance” and “missing person.”
Owning handguns below the age of 21 is illegal in Florida, but no arrests were ever made. Police responded to several calls to his home over several years, accused of “shooting” at animals; it’s unclear how long he possessed a handgun.
[* Shield plugin marked this comment as “trash”. Reason: Failed GASP Bot Filter Test (checkbox) *]
[…] What the headline should have been: 17 students killed in school shooting as police, armed officer w… […]