Former Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson was arrested today and now faces 11 charges related to his inaction during the 2018 Parkland shooting.

Peterson, 56, is charged with seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, FDLE officials announced.

“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statement.

Peterson was the sole school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting. He became infamous for retreating and hiding as shots rang out as the massacre developed.

The former deputy directed responding law enforcement to remain 500 feet away from the school building in Parkland while the shooting unfolded.

Peterson was arrested at the Broward County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Broward County jail. </s> Scot Peterson, a former Broward County Sheriff's deputy, was arrested Tuesday on charges stemming from the law enforcement response to the Feb.14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.Peterson, who was assigned to the Parkland high school as a "school resource officer" that Valentine's Day, is facing charges of neglect of a child, culpable negligence and perjury."The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others," said Rick Swearingen, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in a media statement. "There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives."The investigation found that Peterson did not investigate the source of the gunshots, but instead ran away from the shooting while victims were under attack and then directed other law enforcement officers to remain 500 feet away from the building. </s> (Reuters) - A former Florida sheriff’s deputy was arrested on Tuesday on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to stop the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead, the county sheriff said.

Scot Peterson, 56, who was taken into custody, faces seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury, Broward State Attorney Mike Satz said in a statement.

A 27-minute surveillance video released a month after the shooting showed Peterson, who was assigned to the Parkland, Florida high school, staying outside the building while a former student fatally shot 17 people, according to the sheriff’s office.

“We cannot fulfill our commitment to always protect the security and safety of our Broward County community without doing a thorough assessment of what went wrong that day,” Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a statement, announcing that he had fired Peterson and another deputy, Brian Miller, who he said failed to stop the massacre. </s> In this 2015 photo, then-school resource officer Scot Peterson spoke at a school board meeting of Broward County in Florida. Peterson was arrested on Tuesday and faces 11 charges in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

 Image credit: Broward County Public Schools via

A deputy who was blamed for failing to intervene as a shooter attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has been arrested and charged in connection with the rampage.

Former Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, the only armed person assigned to the school that fatal day, faces 11 criminal charges. They include child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury, Broward State Attorney Mike Satz announced Tuesday in a statement.

Family members of victims and other attendees at a public safety commission meeting cheered the announcement, WLRN reported.

On Feb. 14, 2018, Peterson didn’t go into the building where 17 people were eventually slaughtered. Instead, he hid for 48 minutes at the base of a stairwell after the first shots were fired, according to a Public Safety Commission report published in January.

Peterson was arrested Tuesday after a 14-month investigation, the state attorney’s office said.

The statement said agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement interviewed 184 witnesses about how deputies and other responders behaved on the day of the shooting. The agents reviewed hours of video footage and wrote more than 200 reports.

“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting,” Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statement. “There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”

After the massacre, Peterson retired from his job with the Sheriff’s department. Families of victims filed dozens of lawsuits against the school board and Peterson.

The lawsuits allege that he “wantonly and willfully disregarded” policies and procedures. Peterson’s attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, described the lawsuits as lacking “merit” and asserted that they would be challenged “vigorously.”

DiRuzzo did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment on Tuesday.

If convicted, Peterson, now 56, faces the possibility of spending more than 96 years in state prison.

Authorities said his bond would be set at $102,000, and he would be required to wear a GPS monitor, surrender his passport and relinquish any firearms while the case is pending. </s> The former school resource officer who stayed outside during the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last year has been arrested and charged for failing to act during the incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Former Broward Sheriff's Office deputy Scot Peterson, 56, is facing seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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The charges come about 15 months after a gunman opened fire at the high school, killing 17 and wounding several others.

“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statment. “There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony added that Peterson’s actions warranted “termination of employment and criminal charges.”

Broward County Sgt. Brian Miller was also fired following the investigation, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

FDLE said that an investigation found that Peterson refused to investigate the sources of gunshots during the shooting and that he retreated while victims were being shot. The probe also discovered that he directed law enforcement who arrived on the scene to remain 500 feet away from the building.

Peterson was booked into the Broward County Main Jail following his arrest. He could face up to 97 years in state prison if convicted of the charges, the Sun-Sentinel noted. His bond was reportedly set at $102,000.

Peterson, who resigned following the shooting, became the subject of outrage after surveillance video showed that he did not enter the school building during the shooting.

“It’s never too late for accountability and justice,” Tony said, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

--Updated at 4:09 p.m. </s> Former Broward Sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson, 56, has been arrested and charged over his failure to act during the Valentine's Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year.

Peterson, who was the armed school resource officer at the time, faces seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury according to a Tuesday statement by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He was booked into the Broward County main jail, and could face up to 97 years in state prison if convicted, according to the Sun-Sentinel, which noted that his bond was reportedly set at $102,000.

CCTV footage from the Parkland, FL shooting shows Peterson approach the high school building in a golf cart as gunman Nikolas Cruz massacred 17 students and staff members. Peterson then hopped off, unholstered his gun, and ran behind a concrete wall for cover.

"The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others," said FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearington. "There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives."

Broward County's new Sheriff Gregory Tony added that Peterson's actions warranted "termination of employment and criminal charges.

According to the FDLE, Peterson refused to investigate the source of gunshots during the shooting and retreated while victims were being shot. Peterson also told law enforcement who had just arrived to remain 500 feet from the building.

The records appear to support Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s contention that Peterson, a longtime school resource officer, should have entered Building 12 to engage Cruz and try to prevent deaths. They also appear to show that other deputies may have refrained from rushing into the school at the direction of Peterson and a Parkland captain. The response by the agency has been the subject of national scrutiny, and is currently under review by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. -Miami Herald

Peterson resigned before he could be fired. </s> iStock(PARKLAND, Fla.) — Handcuffed and wearing tan jailhouse clothes, a fired Florida deputy sheriff appeared in court Wednesday morning to face a slew of charges stemming from his alleged inaction in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson appeared for a bond hearing in Broward County Circuit Court a day after he was arrested on seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury stemming from the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting in Parkland that left 17 students and staff members dead.

“The court does find probable cause,” Judge Jackie Powell said during the brief hearing.

She set Peterson’s bail at $102,000 and ordered him to surrender his passport.

Peterson, 56, had been a sheriff’s deputy in Broward County for more than 30 years until he was terminated from his position Thursday when the criminal complaint was filed against him.

An internal probe by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office found that Peterson, who was assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas as a school resource officer, “did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting,” according to a statement released by the agency.

The agency also fired Sgt. Brian Miller, saying in a statement that both he and Peterson “neglected their duties” by failing to confront the alleged teenage gunman, Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school, as he rampaged through a building full of freshmen at the South Florida campus.

Surveillance video and police radio transmissions showed that as the mass shooting was unfolding inside Building 12, Peterson remained outside for 27 minutes.

“He’s guilty. He’s part of this problem. He was a coward that day,” Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was killed in the massacre, said in an interview with ABC News Wednesday. “He was there to save students, teachers. He did nothing. Now he needs to pay for his mistake and I’m glad this is happening now.”

Linda Beigel, the mother of Scott Beigel, a 35-year-old teacher who lost his life in the shooting, also called Peterson a “total coward” in an interview Wednesday with ABC News.

She said that the gunman may have never made it to the third floor of Building 12, where her son was shot to death, if Peterson, who was armed, had immediately entered the building and confronted the shooter.

“If he did, I honestly believe there was no one on the third floor who would have been killed that day,” Beigel said.

Peterson didn’t say anything during Wednesday’s court hearing. His attorney, Joseph A. DiRuzzo, attempted to make a motion that there was no probable cause for the felony counts against the former deputy.

But Judge Powell stopped DiRuzzo, saying, “I’m not going to entertain any motions at this moment.”

DiRuzzo also requested that Peterson be allowed 72 hours to travel to his home in North Carolina to fetch his passport. Powell denied the request.

In a statement released on Tuesday, DiRuzzo said the charges filed against Peterson were “unprecedented” and that the former deputy was being made a scapegoat.

“We will vigorously defend against these spurious charges that lack basis in fact and law,” DiRuzzo said in his statement. “Specifically, Mr. Peterson cannot reasonably be prosecuted because he was not a ‘caregiver,’ which is defined as ‘a parent,’ adult household member, or other person responsible for a child’s welfare.”

DiRuzzo added that Peterson was not criminally negligent in his actions because no police officer has ever been prosecuted for his or her actions in responding to an active shooter incident.

“The state’s actions appear to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at politically motivated retribution against Mr. Peterson, as no other individual employed at the Broward Sheriff’s Office or Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School has been criminally charged,” DiRuzzo said. </s> While children were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, Deputy Scot Peterson found shelter outside.

It’s impossible to forget the devastating Valentine’s Day mass shooting that took place on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. On a day that was supposed to be focused on love and friendship, a 19-year-old gunman opened fire upon unsuspecting students. While bullets ricocheted off walls and children lost their lives, there was one figure who sought shelter outside, away from the chaos, rather than attempting to help. That person was Deputy Scot Peterson who, in the case of a true emergency, failed to confront the shooter, according to The New York Times.

On that tragic day, 17 high school students were killed and 17 others were injured. Those who were lucky enough to survive the incident have been vocal within the media and online in their support of stricter gun laws. Now, parents of those affected by the massacre are demanding answers to questions that involve former Deputy Peterson’s cowardice on the day that their children needed him most. Why didn’t Peterson step in? Why didn’t he do something to protect their children? He is being held accountable for his lack of action now and is facing a long list of charges in connection with that day.

The 56-year-old former deputy was suspended following the 2018 attack. He has recently been arrested and taken into the Broward County jail with his bail set at $102,000. His list of charges is lengthy, including 11 charges of neglect of a child, culpable negligence, and perjury.

Parkland citizen Fred Guttenberg has been outspoken regarding the topic of gun control since his daughter Jaime was murdered during the 2018 attack. On Twitter, he held nothing back when addressing Peterson. He pointed out that it wasn’t merely that Peterson had failed to take action, but that he had failed to tell the truth about it following the incident.

“I have no comment except to say rot in hell. You could have saved some of the 17. You could have saved my daughter. You did not and then you lied about it and you deserve the misery coming your way.”

It has since been revealed that Peterson committed perjury while under oath when he stated that he hadn’t heard shots fired prior to his arrival at the 1200 building, except for the initial few shots. This would have at least explained his lack of action for the beginning portion of the shooting. However, it was later determined that he was well aware that the shooting was taking place, yet still neglected to do anything. </s> Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson has been arrested on 11 charges related to his lack of response to the mass shooting in 2018.

Why it matters: Peterson was on duty the day that the Parkland massacre resulted in 17 dead, but did not confront the shooter — remaining outside during the event. Now, he faces charges including child neglect, perjury and culpable negligence. The charges amount to nearly 100 years of prison time and Peterson's bail has been set at $102,000.
Former Broward Sheriff Office deputy Scot Peterson is arrested for failing to act during the incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.