Prosecutors charged Scot Peterson with seven counts of child neglect for the deaths of four students and injuries to three others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
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On February 14, 2018, Nicolas Cruz entered one of his old school buildings with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and lots of ammunition.
For just over six minutes, he covered the three floors of the building and opened fire, killing 17 people – 14 students and three employees – and wounding 17 others, in one of the worst attacks on schools in the United States.
In October 2022, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison.
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Peterson had been an officer with the Broward County Sheriff's Office, tasked with guarding the school since 2009. He arrived at the crime scene with the gun in hand after the alarm went off, about two minutes after the shooting began.
However, instead of going in when he heard the shots, he hid nearby because, according to him, he didn't know which block the shooter was in.
At that time, Cruz had already killed 13 people and injured 14 on the ground floor and was heading to the upper floors. Therefore, the Prosecutor's Office charges Peterson only in relation to the dead and injured on the third floor.
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In his opening statement, prosecutor Steven Klinger assured that Peterson could hear the shots and see the children running away from where he was hiding. He further stated that the agent was safe for 45 minutes, long after the attack ended.
The defendant's lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said that Peterson fulfilled his duty by going to the scene of the shooting, warning his colleagues in the office and trying to find out where the shots came from.
“My client is not a criminal,” he said. “He did everything possible, with the information he had, to protect lives.”
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Peterson, 60, retired shortly after the attack, before being removed retroactively. He could be sentenced to up to 97 years in prison.
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