A jury on Thursday acquitted a former school resource officer (SRO) who stayed outside during the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Scot Peterson, 60, was found not guilty on all 11 counts. The former Broward County deputy broke down in tears immediately after the verdict.
Peterson was facing the possibility of 96.5 years in state prison if he had been found guilty, the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said.
The charges included felony child neglect after 17 people, including 14 students, were shot and killed in a massacre by a former student, who fled on foot and was at large for more than an hour after the incident.
Prosecutors argued Peterson ignored his training and did not respond to the shooting on the third floor of the high school.
“[He] left behind an unrestricted killer to spend the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at his leisure,” Assistant State Attorney Kristen Gomes said in closing arguments Monday. “Because when Scot Peterson ran, he left children trapped inside of the building with a predator unchecked.”
Peterson’s lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said the school resource officer could not tell where the shooting was happening.
“Two dozen witnesses came in here one by one and told you they couldn’t tell from the sounds precisely what area we’re talking about,” Eiglarsh said in his closing argument.
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