Inside a Broward County courtroom Thursday afternoon, parents of the victims of the deadly mass shooting inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School once again left disappointed after former school resource officer Scot Peterson was found not guilty after being accused of failing to protect students.
"Sadly, we don't understand what you need to see to find people guilty in Broward County," said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was among the 17 people killed in the massacre inside the Parkland school over five years ago.
Peterson, 60, was charged with seven counts of felony child neglect for four students killed and three wounded on the 1200 building's third floor.
He is the epitome of failure," said Max Schachter, father of 14-year-old Alex Schachter. "He went to the front of the building. He was there in under two minutes. He heard the gunshots that were fired and killed coach Aaron Feis and hearing those shots he got scared and hid behind a concrete pillar for 40 minutes."
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"We still feel he should be haunted every day by his failure to act," Montalto said. "I know he contributed to the deaths of my daughter Gina, her schoolmates and their teachers."
Tom Hoyer, whose son Luke was also among the victims, expressed similar frustration.
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"I don't know what our kids and our teachers are supposed to do in a school where the person who is supposed to protect them doesn't," Hoyer said.
Peterson arrived at the building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before the shooter reached that floor, but instead of entering, he backed away as gunfire sounded. He has said he didn't know where the shots were coming from.
"He could've taken 10 steps forward (and) could've been a hero," he said. "Could've taken 20 steps backward and been a coward and he took the steps backward."
Peterson said he would like the chance to speak to the parents and families of the victims, but those in the courtroom said they were not interested in such conversations.
"Why do we need to talk to this failure?" Montalto said. "He didn't do the right thing. We watched him stand there as if he was a narrator instead of seeking out the threat and stopping the massacre that was going on inside that building."
Parents said they were concerned about what message Thursday's verdict will send to school resource officers in other schools.
"If the verdict today was that Scot Peterson was guilty it would have set a precedent not only in Florida but nationwide and to say you’re going to be held accountable as an SRO to go and engage and take down a threat, but unfortunately what happened today was allowing the SROs this option that you don't need to be held accountable," said Lori Alhadeff, who lost her daughter Alyssa.
