Brother of Parkland victim pleads to Sun-Sentinel to rescind 'shameful' endorsement of Scott Israel

Hunter Pollack, the brother of 18-year-old Parkland victim Meadow Pollack, pleaded for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to rescind its endorsement of Scott Israel, the ousted Broward County sheriff who is running to be reelected to the office.

Last week, the Sun-Sentinel raised eyebrows after its editorial board announced that it was backing the disgraced sheriff in the Democratic primary, acknowledging that the endorsement "will be poorly received among the families shattered" by the mass shooting that left 17 dead in 2018.

In a letter to the Sun-Sentinel that was published Wednesday by the paper, Pollack urged the editorial board to reverse its endorsement.

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"I wasn’t planning on sending you this letter, but after watching my mom cry tears of pain when she saw your endorsement of Scott Israel, I felt obligated to," Pollack began. "I just can’t fathom the pain the 16 other victims’ families felt when you released your shameful endorsement. But given that you wrote that you anticipated your endorsement would engender such feelings, I’ll stick to the facts of the case that you seem to have forgotten."

Pollack blasted the Sun-Sentinel for claiming that Israel "could not have prevented the tragedy," noting the "40 times" the Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) had been flagged of the suspect's behavior leading up to the mass shooting. He also rejected the blaming the cowardice of officer Scot Peterson, writing that he "only received one hour of active shooter training over the last three years" and that the BSO "was responsible for enforcing such training and evaluating his performance regularly."

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He continued: "This fight is bigger than honoring my sister Meadow, who was a victim of Scott Israel’s deadly incompetence and neglect of duty. It is about protecting the residents of Broward County... Scott Israel still has not accepted personal responsibility for his and BSO’s shortcomings that day. If a leader can’t humble themselves and admit their mistakes, are they really a leader? If he is elected again, as you said, we are doomed to repeat our tragic history. Please do the right thing and rescind your endorsement of Scott Israel for Sheriff."

Last week, former Parkland student Kyle Kashuv slammed the endorsement, telling Fox News: "Sheriff Scott Israel had dozens of reports about the shooter at my school and the danger he posed. Dozens. During the shooting, officers of his department hid behind trees rather than enter the building. Scott Israel's incompetence contributed to this entirely preventable tragedy. He utterly failed the people of Parkland."

Kashuv added: "A glowing endorsement from the Sun-Sentinel is a slap in the face to everyone affected by the tragedy. This is a travesty."

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Ryan Petty, father of 14-year-old Parkland victim Alaina Petty, also knocked the endorsement.

"For the ⁦@SunSentinel editorial board, this endorsement is as much an attack on ⁦@GovRonDeSantis as it an endorsement of a candidate," Petty wrote on Twitter.