For Scot Peterson, the last five years have been a rollercoaster and a constant reminder of the Parkland school shooting.
The 60-year-old spoke to NBC6 Thursday night from his attorney's home in Hollywood, hours after he was found not guilty on charges of failing to act during the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"It was just a rush of emotion," Peterson said, recalling how he felt when the judge read his verdict through all 11 counts. "Like a relief that something you couldn’t even imagine. It was just incredible."
Peterson was charged with seven counts of felony child neglect for four students killed and three wounded at the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
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"Hearing those words, 'not guilty,' and validating everything me and (attorney Mark Eiglarsh) have known for the past several years, to hear people, to hear the facts, and actually really see and learn what really happened," he said.
Peterson arrived at the 1200 classroom building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before the shooter reached the third floor. But instead of entering, Peterson backed away as gunfire sounded.
He said he didn't know where the shots were coming from.
"Of course, if I had known and had the intel and I knew there was a shooter in that building, of course I would have went in that building," Peterson said. "I mean, that's what police officers are there to do."
During the trial, Peterson’s attorney, Eiglarsh, called several deputies who arrived during the shooting and students and teachers who testified they did not think the shots were coming from the 1200 building. Peterson did not testify.
"I would do the same thing," Peterson said when asked if he had done anything differently. "It's like Mark said in trial with the evidence. When I heard the first two or three shots come out, I believed the shots were outside. I told my agency two days after the shooting that the shots, I believed they were outside. I didn’t even have the 1200 building in play at that moment, so it would have been the same response."
Peterson said he would like the chance to sit down with the victims' families and tell them what really happened.
"I would tell them, 'let me tell you what really happened,' and not only I don't have to justify my actions," he said. "I know what my actions were and I sleep at night. I can say I did the best I can with the information I had — which was nothing at that point — and that's the truth."
Peterson called the charges against him political and blamed former Sheriff Scott Israel for playing politics.
"A lot of things went wrong with the radio systems, the communications going to another agency, which left BSO with no communication knowing actually what was even going on," Peterson said. "All those things were factors that played a major part that were never really told."
Peterson spent nearly three decades working at schools, including nine years at Stoneman Douglas. He retired shortly after the shooting and was then fired retroactively.
Peterson said he’ll spend another week in South Florida with his family before returning home to North Carolina.
