FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on developments related to the school shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida (all times local):
8:30 a.m.
Fired deputy Scot Peterson says President Donald Trump has made him “the punching bag” for the school shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida.
Trump said Peterson “didn’t want to go into the school” as students and teachers were being attacked, and even said Peterson “doesn’t love the children.”
Peterson said in part two of a “Today Show” interview aired on NBC Wednesday that “coward” is “the worst label you could have as a police officer, and it’s just not true.”
He said he would tell the parents that he’s sorry, but he didn’t have all the facts when he was the first officer to arrive at the scene. He said he didn’t know who or where the shooter was, or whether it was just one. He said he knows about active shooters, but didn’t believe “that was what was going on” when he first got there.
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8:20 a.m.
A newly released interview with a security monitor at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School describes what happened immediately before the shooting that killed 17 people.
The video released by Broward County prosecutors Tuesday was recorded shortly after the Feb. 14 shooting. Andrew Medina told detectives he saw Nikolas Cruz get out of an Uber with a large bag and make “a beeline” toward the freshman building.
Medina said he recognized Cruz as a troubled former student and immediately radioed another unarmed security monitor to “keep your eyes open.” That monitor hid in a janitor’s closet in the building when shots rang out. Medina said he immediately recognized it as gunfire and drove his golf cart to pick up Deputy Scot Peterson.
Some parents say Medina should have called in a “code red,” but he said he didn’t know Cruz had guns.
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