Florida school shooting: Parkland officer arrested over inaction



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Mug shot of Scot Peterson

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Reuters

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Donald Trump called Scot Peterson has "coward"

An armed officer who has seen the light of day, and has had many charges, including child neglect and perjury.

Scot Peterson, a security guard at the Marjory Stoneman High School Douglas, did not enter the ranks last year and later resigned.

US President Donald Trump called him "coward" for not acting.

Mr Peterson said he did not know where the gunfire was coming from.

Seventeen students were killed in the Parkland massacre on Valentine's Day in 2018.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, has trained student at the school, with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Police said he admitted the shooting.

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Soon afterwards, authorities released footage showing Mr Peterson waiting outside the school.

Following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Mr. Peterson was arrested on Tuesday on seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury.

The investigation showed Mr Peterson "did absolutely nothing" to prevent the shooting, FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statement.

"There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives," he added.

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Media captionTrump: "I would have run in even if I did not have a weapon"

Broward County, Sheriff Scott Israel is one of the most important places in the world. The shooting lasted just six minutes.

"I am devastated.Sick to my stomach.He never went in," Sheriff Israel said, adding that he should have entered and "killed the killer".

President Trump said the officer "certainly did a poor job" and branded him a coward.

Mr Peterson maintained he believed the shots were coming from outside the school.

He told NBC that he "did not get it right", but added: "Those are my kids in there, I never would have sat there and let my kids get slaughtered."

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