Former Broward County cop defends actions at Parkland ahead of criminal trial

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Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz addresses court after guilty pleas

Nikolas Cruz says the victims and their families of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida should decide whether he lives or dies.

The former Broward County deputy accused of hiding during the 2018 Parkland high school shooting that left 17 dead is now speaking out to defend his actions, declaring this week that there "is no way in hell that I would sit there and allow those kids to die with me being next to another building." 

Scot Peterson, who worked as a school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, made the comments ahead of a trial in which he is facing child negligence charges. 

"On February 14, 2018... we responded to a firecracker call. It was not a call of an act of gunfire. I arrived on that scene and when I got there I heard two to three shots outside. I immediately got on my radio and I reported ‘shots fired," he told reporters Wednesday. "I then went on my school radio to lock down the school, to safeguard the 3,200 kids on that campus. That is the first thing I did." 

Then-Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson, who was assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting, is seen in this still image captured from the school surveillance video released by Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida, U.S. on March 15, 2018.   ( Broward County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS)

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Peterson, who recalled believing the gunfire was coming from "outside," then says he "looked for the closest position of tactical cover and it was the 700 building" – right next to the 1200 building where the shooting was unfolding. 

"And that is where I moved to and at that moment, I became the incident commander on the scene, still not knowing at all – never knowing that there was a shooter or shooters inside that building shooting students and staff," he continued. "I never once when I was at that 700 building knew that. I didn’t receive any intel from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Coral Springs officers that arrived on the scene who were standing next to me." 

"I never had any information that there were gunshot victims inside the 1200 building when I was over at the 700 building as the incident commander trying to assess not only the scene but as the units were responding," he added. 

Former Broward County sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson appears in the courtroom for a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S., on June 6, 2019.    (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Pool via REUTERS)

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Peterson said about a minute and a half into the event, he heard a deputy on scene reporting over radio that there were shots at a football field about a few hundred yards away from his position. 

"So now in my mind I’m thinking, this is probably not even in this area. Someone is sniper firing somewhere in this school towards even the football field," Peterson said. 

"We were doing the best – every deputy on that scene was doing the best that we could in that chaotic moment at the beginning with those shots being fired," he continued. "There is no way in hell that I would sit there and allow those kids to die with me being next to another building and sitting there. No way. And anybody who knows me will tell you ‘that is not Deputy Peterson’. Never." 

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table on Oct. 20 at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cruz pleaded guilty to murder in the 2018 high school massacre in Parkland, Fla.,, that left 17 dead.  (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP)

Prosecutors have said that Peterson failed to come to the rescue as Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the February 2018 shooting, was making his way through the school’s hallways. 

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Cruz is facing 17 counts of first-degree murder and the death penalty if convicted in the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre. 

Cruz’s lawyers previously have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life prison sentence, but prosecutors are insisting that his fate be decided by a jury trial. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.