A school guard who allegedly hid during a mass shooting in Florida that killed 14 pupils and three teachers was acquitted of charges of neglect and negligence on Thursday.
A jury found no fault with the actions of former sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson, 60, during the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018.
The gunman, former student Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, also wounded 17 other people with a semi-automatic rifle that he was able to buy despite having known mental health issues.
Mr Peterson was accused of failing to enter the school building to pursue Cruz even though he was armed and had received training in confronting an active gunman.
He was indicted on several counts of felony child neglect and culpable negligence, and one count of perjury.
Parkland school shooting gunman sentenced to life in prison
Mr Peterson broke down in tears when the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. “I got my life back,” he said outside the court.
The Parkland shooting stunned the nation and reignited debate on gun control and how to protect schools from armed attacks.
Families of the dead and wounded placed some of the blame on Mr Peterson.
During the trial, prosecutor Steven Klinger said Mr Peterson, who had been in law enforcement for 32 years and a security guard at the school since 2009, had been trained to deal with such attacks.
Mr Klinger said Mr Peterson took shelter in an alcove outside the school building and remained there for 48 minutes, well after the shooting ended.
“In an active shooter situation, you go for the gunshots. You're trained to go for those shots, to find that shooter, because every shot could be a death,” he said.
Mr Peterson’s lawyer said that his client was made a scapegoat and denied that he was a “coward”.
Mark Eiglarsh said Mr Peterson could not tell where the gunshots were coming from on the sprawling school campus and “did everything that you possibly could with the limited information that he had”.
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin, 17, was killed at Parkland, expressed anger over the reactions from Mr Peterson and Mr Eiglarsh after the verdict was announced.
“Tell me about that pain,” he said.
Mr Peterson “obviously made a mistake and needs to be accountable”. he said.
“The honest thing to do is to walk out of that room quiet.”
Agencies contributed to this report
