Jury deliberations conclude for third day in trial of ex-Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson

A jury in Florida will soon decide the fate of former Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson. 

Jury deliberations continued for a third day Wednesday with no verdict reached in the historic trial involving the former Broward County deputy. The jury is set to resume deliberations 9 a.m. Thursday.

A sheriff’s deputy, teachers and students testifying during the trial of Peterson gave divergent answers when asked where they thought the shots were coming from during Nikolas Cruz’s Feb. 14, 2018, attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Fourteen students and three staff members died.

Peterson, 60, could face almost 100 years in prison and lose his $104,000 annual pension if convicted of felony child neglect, the most serious charge he faces. He is the first law enforcement agent in U.S. history ever tried for an alleged failure to act during a school shooting. He retired shortly after the shooting before being retroactively fired.

“Every student and every teacher on the third floor was still alive” when Peterson reached the building targeted by Cruz, Kristen Gomes, an assistant state attorney for Broward County, said during closing arguments Monday, according to the New York Times. “And Scot Peterson chose to run.”

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In rebuttal, Peterson’s defense attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, argued that Peterson was being scapegoated by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from or whether there were several shooters and did respond by issuing a schoolwide “code red.” 

“We’re here because of that monster,” Eiglarsh said, gesturing toward a photo of the now-convicted gunman, adding, “He did it.”

Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas High School student, was sentenced to life in prison last year, effectively evading the death penalty sought by prosecutors. 

Peterson, the school’s assigned deputy, insisted that because of echoes, he didn’t know that Cruz was firing inside the three-story 1200 building, even though he moved within 10 yards of its door before taking cover next to an adjoining structure. He has said he thought the shots were coming from outside, perhaps from the football field — more than 100 yards from the 1200 building and 200 yards from where he took cover. He is facing felony child neglect and other charges for his alleged failure to confront Cruz.

The outcome of the trial could have repercussions outside Florida, as law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre continues to face heavy scrutiny. 

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Broward County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Goolsby, who arrived during the Parkland shooting, testified that he thought the gunfire was coming from a courtyard next to the 1200 building. 

He said that even when he arrived outside the building and saw the body of a coach outside a door and its damaged windows, he wasn’t totally convinced the shots had come from inside – perhaps the shots had struck the coach and windows from a nearby balcony or trees.

“I have never experienced anything quite like that day,” Goolsby said.

Student Ruby Harris, who had exited a neighboring building, thought the shots from Cruz’s AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle were coming from straight ahead from a parking lot behind the 1200 building. Her younger sister Peri thought they were coming from the left, from a neighboring middle school. 

Their friend Dylan Redshaw thought that a building somewhere had exploded.

Under cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out that the students and teachers were not police officers trained to recognize gunfire or pinpoint it and that their training for on-campus shootings was to run back into their classrooms immediately, not to seek out and find the shooter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.