Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson collapsed on the defense table and cried Thursday as he was found not guilty on all counts after he failed to confront the teenage gunman responsible for the horrific 2018 school shooting.
The 60-year-old, who had been labeled “the coward of Broward” for his response during the massacre in Parkland, Florida, continued to cry and raise his hands in thankful prayer as Florida Judge Martin Fein read out 11 not guilty verdicts to a crowded Broward County courtroom. Others in the room gasped as the verdict, which arrived after jurors deliberated for 19 hours, was delivered.
In the end, Peterson was acquitted of all charges, including child neglect and perjury, in a case that raised questions about a police officer’s level of responsibility during an active shooting situation.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I got my life back,” Peterson told reporters outside the courtroom, describing the last few years as “an emotional roller coaster.”
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Peterson stressed that the case “was a malicious prosecution that put me and my wife in a living hell for four years. During the shooting, I did everything I could with the limited information I had. My heart goes out to all the families whose loved ones were killed or injured as a result of this tragedy,” Peterson added.
Parents of the massacre victims, however, expressed their outrage at the verdict, insisting that it didn’t erase what Peterson did five years ago.
“I am truly unhappy with the result,” Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old-daughter Jaime was killed by Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, told The Daily Beast.
Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of Scott Beigel, a geography teacher who was killed while trying to usher students back into his classroom, also expressed her anger.
“Scot Peterson may have been found legally not guilty, but he is morally guilty for the death of my son,” Schulman told The Daily Beast via text message. “My son saved the lives of 31 of his students. Peterson’s inaction is one of the reasons I will never see my son again. Peterson said after the verdict that he got his life back. Where do I go to get my son’s life back?”
Tony Montalto, father of 14-year-old victim Gina, told reporters outside the courthouse that the verdict does not change the fact that Peterson “was an insurance policy that didn’t pay off.”
“All I can say to the members of the jury is, I think your school should hire him to protect your children,” he said. “You think you did the right thing? Please, reach out. He is probably looking for work and he’ll be happy to come to your school.”
Throughout the three-week trial, prosecutors alleged that Peterson failed to follow his active shooting training when he remained outside the three-story high school building for about 48 minutes. During that time, Cruz, a former student, carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history with an AR-15-style rifle. In addition to the 17 deaths, Cruz also injured three staff members and 14 students. (Last year, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
“[Peterson] was the only hope for those victims,” Broward Assistant State Attorney Kristen Gomes said during closing arguments on Monday.
Prosecutors argued that Peterson was among the first to arrive at the high school, about 73 seconds before Cruz reached the building’s third floor, where the shooting took place. Instead of confronting Cruz, however, prosecutors said he stepped back as the gunfire began—and directed other officers away from the incident.
Several teachers, former students, and other officers testified on behalf of the prosecution, detailing the initial moments of the massacre and the response.
“The sound was unmistakable,” Danielle Gilbert, a junior who was in her fourth period class when the shooting began, told jurors. Gilbert said her classmates “sat and ducked and huddled as closely as we could” before Cruz ultimately opened fire into her classroom door. One of those classmates, Carmen Schentrup, was fatally shot.
“I was just waiting for the police, it was the longest 20 minutes of my life,” Gilbert said. “It felt like an eternity and the whole time, we were just waiting for the police to come. For someone to knock on the door and take us out of that horror.”
Defense attorneys for Peterson, however, insisted that the career law enforcement officer did everything he could—and honestly believed that the shots were coming from outside the building. Mark Eiglarsh, Peterson’s lawyer, called several witnesses to discuss the hectic nature of the shooting, including teachers and students who also believed the gunfire was coming from somewhere else.
Peterson took a “tactical position of cover,” Eiglarsh said, insisting to jurors that Peterson was being wrongly scapegoated for the law enforcement failings of the Parkland shooting and that his client has already faced enough punishment. While Peterson has maintained his innocence, he declined to testify on his own behalf.
“Scot Peterson was sacrificed. He was thrown under the bus and that continues right now,” Eiglarsh added.
Eiglarsh reiterated a similar sentiment in a statement to The Daily Beast, adding that the acquittal is “not just a victory for my innocent client who dedicated his life to public service for 32 years, but also to every law enforcement officer around this county who shows up every day and does the best they can under challenging circumstances.”
In a statement after the verdict, Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said that “for the first time in our nation’s history, prosecutors in this case have tried to hold an armed school resource officer responsible for not doing his job.”
“We did so because we think it’s important not only to our community but to the country as a whole,” Pryor said. “Sadly, we know all too well that there is an acute need for safety in our schools. Our children are vulnerable to armed individuals who target them in a place where they should be safe.”
