The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting is an incident that was handled hastily. From the day of the shooting to demonstrations calling for stricter gun control laws and the signing of the bill into law on Friday by Florida’s Governor, Rick Scott, exemplifies how fast the tragedy was handled in regards to getting solutions that would otherwise avert a repeat of the sorrowful event.
The new bill was formulated from the actions of Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old deranged teenager who shot up his former school for unknown reasons. The age limit review from 18 to 21 in the bill is based on the fact that Cruz is 19. Arming teachers and staffers were based on the notion that they could have been the first responders in the incident who could have averted the massive casualties. Cruz was also considered a mental case in the school before he was expelled for appalling behavior. In this regard, the bill proposed the establishment of a mental program in schools to cater for troubled students like Cruz.
In-depth Investigations into the Tragedy
The hasty handling of the tragedy may have caused authorities to miss key aspects of the tragedy that may have assisted in coming up with a comprehensive bill before it was signed into law. New findings show that when Florida deputies responded to last month’s high school shooting, the armed resource officer present at the school at the time radioed and stated that Cruz was in the freshman building. He advised the deputies to stay back instead of immediately confronting the active shooter as stipulated in the law enforcement guidelines.
Just minutes after the shooting, Scot Peterson, a Broward County Deputy radio called stating that he almost realized that the gunshots came from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The fact contradicts his lawyer’s statement which stated on February 26 that his client who as assigned to the school believed that the gunshots came from outside any of the buildings in the school compound. Peterson was therefore found culpable even though he denied any wrongdoing. The deputy chose to resign over being suspended by his department.
Following the release of the radio call recordings late Thursday, Chris Grollnek a security analyst and former law enforcement officer indicated that Peterson was not properly trained for the situation even though the records indicated that he passed his active shooter class in 2016. Chris who is specialized in active shooter situations suggested that the timelines of the radio transmission clearly indicated on what not to do. As such, Peterson’s response to the situation was wrong.
