WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) Ex-security guard for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was found not guilty on criminal charges brought against the officer for failing to confront a school shooter in 2018, NBC news reported on Thursday.
Scot Peterson, who served as a Broward County sheriff's deputy and school security officer, was found not guilty of child neglect and culpable negligence charges, the report said.
Peterson, 60, faced over 96 years in prison if convicted on the charges, the report said.
In February 2018, a gunman killed 17 students, teachers, and staff at the school, injuring 17 others as well.
Florida prosecutors charged Peterson for refusing to investigate the source of the gunfire and retreating during the shooting, the report said. Peterson was the only other person at the school in possession of a firearm when the shooting began, the report said.
Peterson, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, claims that chaos, miscommunication and a mistaken assumption that the shots were being fired by a sniper outside the building kept him from confronting the shooter, the report said.
A former student at the school Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty to charges linked to the shooting, for which he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
