Parents of kids massacred during the Parkland school shooting blasted the disgraced deputy who has been arrested for refusing to confront the gunman, saying “he should rot” for his inaction.
Scot Peterson, 56, appeared in court on Tuesday and was charged after a 14-month investigation found he didn’t move from his hiding place for 48 minutes while outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018 as a 19-year-old former student methodically killed 14 students and three staffers.
“He should rot, that’s how I feel,” Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the school massacre, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “My daughter was one of the last to be shot. My daughter absolutely could have been saved by him and she wasn’t.”
Peterson stood stone-faced in jail garb and handcuffs Wednesday as he was charged on 11 counts, including negligence and child neglect for not entering the building during the rampage.
An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Broward State Attorney’s Office also found that Peterson likely could have saved people on the third floor inside the school, but instead chose to retreat as gunfire continued. He then directed other responding officers to stay 500 feet away from the building, a spokeswoman for the state agency told the newspaper.
“Had she had one more second, she would have been saved,” Guttenberg continued. “I hope they make his life as miserable as possible.”
Chilling surveillance video also shows Peterson and two other school staffers rushing to the building before taking cover outside. He now faces up to 97 years in prison if convicted on charges of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.
Peterson’s attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, said the charges were a “thinly veiled attempt at politically motivated retribution” and should be dismissed.
“Today, the individuals who have made this charging decision have taken the easy way out and blamed Mr. Peterson … when there has only ever been one person to blame — Nikolas Cruz,” DiRuzzo told the newspaper.
But Gena Hoyer, whose 14-year-old son, Luke, was killed by Cruz as Peterson took cover instead of confronting the teen gunman, said it’s time to hold the former deputy accountable.
“My heart is just beating because we’re over a year here and this is just now happening,” Hoyer told the Sun Sentinel. “This is long overdue.”
Linda Schulman, meanwhile, dismissed Peterson as someone who lacked the courage to do the job he was trained to do. Peterson’s inaction led to the senseless murder of her son, geography teacher and cross-country coach Scott Beigel, she said.
“If Scot Peterson had done his job, my son would be alive today,” Schulman told the Sun Sentinel. “One hundred percent had he done something, the active shooter would not have made it to the third floor, had he done his job, instead of standing outside like a coward.”