Scot Peterson was outside the school when a gunman killed 17 people, but did not go inside as shots rang out.

His attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, said his client believed the gunfire was coming from outside the school.

He followed his training by taking cover and prompting a lockdown, the lawyer said.

Mr DiRuzzo said it was “patently untrue” that Mr Peterson was a coward on the day.

Mr Peterson, a veteran officer who had been assigned to guard the high school, resigned last week after his boss, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, suspended him without pay.

Sheriff Israel said that footage from the scene had left him “devastated” and “sick to my stomach”.

But Mr DiRuzzo accused the sheriff of “at best, gross oversimplification”, saying he “jumped to a conclusion” about Mr Peterson’s behaviour.

‘Trained to seek cover’

Mr Peterson said he had originally “received a call of firecrackers”.

Only when he ran towards the sound, he said, did he realise it was gunshots.

Broward Sheriff’s Office had trained him to seek cover and assess the situation in the event of outdoor gunfire, his lawyer said. Mr Peterson did so, and then told the sheriff’s office he had heard shots, prompting a “Code Red” lockdown of the school campus.

When police arrived, he told them he thought the gunman was outside – a belief backed up by “radio transmissions [which] indicated that there was a gunshot victim in the area of the football field,” Mr Peterson said.

His lawyer said in a statement: “Let there be no mistake, Mr Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the 17 victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need.

“However, the allegations that Mr Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue.”

Trump castigates response

Mr Peterson’s clarification came after the president claimed he would have run into the Florida high school if he had been there, even if he had not been armed.

“I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” Mr Trump told a group of state governors at the White House on Monday.

Mr Trump also said it was “frankly, disgusting” that officers reportedly did not confront the suspect on 14 February.

Broward County Sheriff’s Office is reportedly also investigating why three of its deputies appeared to remain outside the building with their guns drawn as the attack unfolded.

Mr Trump criticised those officers as well, saying they “weren’t exactly medal of honour winners”- a reference to the US military award for valour.

In Florida, students are preparing to return full-time to their classrooms on Wednesday after some attended a volunteer “orientation” on Sunday.

“It’s like the first day of school,” a 16-year-old girl in attendance told the New York Times.

“But it’s not normal at all.”

The massacre was the second-deadliest ever shooting at a US school.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at the school, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Police have said he admitted the shooting.

In the aftermath of the attack, students from the school have founded a movement campaigning for gun control, which has seen them march on their state capitol.

President Donald Trump has pledged action on mental health and background checks, hosted a listening session with some students and teachers, and called for teachers to be armed with concealed firearms.

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Source: BBC

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Nikolas Cruz, 19, said he arrived on campus and began shooting students before abandoning his weapon and escaping, according to a court document.

He has appeared in court charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

The FBI has admitted it received a tip-off about him last year.

The attack, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is the deadliest US school shooting since 2012.

“Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds,” according to the court document.

He said he was carrying extra ammunition in a black duffel bag and backpack, it said.

Mr Cruz then discarded his weapon in an attempt to blend in and escape, the documents showed.

He was reportedly able to flee the scene undetected before entering a Walmart and then a McDonalds, and was eventually spotted by police and arrested one hour after the attack.

What do we know about the suspect?

Mr Cruz had been expelled from the school he has confessed to attacking and some students said they had joked “he’s the one to shoot up the school”.

One former schoolmate, Chad Reuters, told Reuters Mr Cruz was an “outcast” who was “crazy about guns”.

His interest in weapons was apparent on his social media profiles, which Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said were “very, very disturbing”.

Two separate Instagram accounts, now deleted, purport to show Mr Cruz posing with guns and knives.

What were the warnings?

After seeing a comment on a YouTube post last year by Mr Cruz, user Ben Bennight contacted the FBI and spoke to representatives for about 20 minutes.

Mr Bennight said the FBI contacted him again following the school shooting in Parkland.

The FBI confirmed on Thursday that they were made aware of the comment, adding that they had conducted “checks” but were unable to identify the person behind it.

Meanwhile, maths teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald that school authorities had emailed teachers about Mr Cruz’s behavioural problems.

“There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus,” he said.

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Source: BBC

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The suspect has been named as Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school who had been expelled.

As the attack unfolded students were forced to hide as police swooped in on the building.

It is the deadliest school shooting since 26 people were killed at Connecticut school Sandy Hook in 2012.

It is the sixth school shooting incident in 2018 that has either wounded or killed students.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters Mr Cruz killed three people outside the school, before entering the building and killing another 12.

Two people later died after being taken to hospital.

“It’s catastrophic. There really are no words,” Sheriff Israel tweeted later.

Three people remain in a critical condition and three others are in stable condition, health officials said.

The victims are still being identified. Sheriff Israel said a football coach was among the dead but no names have been released.

How the attack unfolded
On Wednesday, the local public school district tweeted that “students and staff heard what sounded like gunfire” just before the end of the day at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The attack began at 14:30 local time (19:30 GMT).

Witnesses said that the suspect set off a fire alarm before the violence erupted.

Police and Swat team members swarmed the campus and began clearing students from the school in Parkland, about an hour north of Miami, as parents and ambulances converged on the scene.

Mr Cruz, who had been expelled for “disciplinary reasons”, was taken into custody without incident in the nearby town of Coral Springs about an hour after he left the high school, according to police.

“We have already begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on and some of the things… are very, very disturbing,” Sheriff Israel said.

“Just a horrible day for us,” said Robert Runcie, the superintendent of the county’s school district.

The school has nearly 3,000 students. Classes are cancelled for the rest of this week.

‘Worst nightmare’
Many students said they thought it was a drill because a fire alarm practice had taken place shortly before the shooting.

Students told US media they hid under desks, in closets or barricaded doors as loud shots rang out.

One student, Bailey Vosberg, said: “I heard what sounded like fireworks and I looked at my friend and he asked me if I heard that.”

“Immediately, I knew. I didn’t say anything to him, I just hopped over the fence and I went straight to the road that our school is located on – and as I got there there was just Swat cars and police units, police vehicles just flying by, helicopters over the top of us.”

Caesar Figueroa, a parent, told CBS News his daughter was hiding in a closet when she called him.

He told the news outlet earlier that he told her not to call him because he did not want the gunman to hear her voice.

“It’s the worst nightmare not hearing from my daughter for 20 minutes, it was the longest 20 minutes of my life,” Mr Figeuroa said.

A teacher told WSVN that she hid in a closet with 19 students for 40 minutes – and that the school had undergone training for such a situation six weeks ago.

What’s the reaction been?
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the shooting was “designed & executed to maximize loss of life”.

What’s the reaction been?
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the shooting was “designed & executed to maximize loss of life”.

But he said that it was too soon to debate whether tighter gun laws could have stopped it.

“You should know the facts of that incident before you run out and prescribe some law that you claim could have prevented it,” he told Fox News.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said the shooting was “pure evil”, but also refused to be drawn into a discussion about gun control.

“There’s a time to continue to have these conversations about how through law enforcement… we make sure people are safe,” he said.

President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences.

Congressman Ted Deutch, the district’s representative, tweeted: “I’m sick about this news from home. Just spoke with the sheriff. This is devastating.”

How do previous school shootings compare?
Wednesday’s attack is at least the 18th shooting in the US this year on or around school premises, according to research by Everytown for Gun Safety.

It is the sixth school shooting incident in 2018 that has either wounded or killed students, according to the advocacy website.

Since 2013, there have been 291 reported school shootings in America, which averages out to about one per week.

This is the worst shooting since 2012, when gunman Adam Lanza attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

He shot dead 20 young children and six adults before killing himself.

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Source: BBC

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The suspect has been identified by police as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, an Iraq war veteran.

Officials say they have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive.

US media say the man may have been mentally disturbed. He reportedly said the government was controlling his mind and made him watch jihadist videos.

The attacker opened fire at the baggage claim area of Terminal 2 as passengers were collecting their luggage. Witnesses said he walked along the carousals and did not say anything as he shot people who were trying to run or hide.

He surrendered to police when he ran out of ammunition, witnesses added.

The man, who was wearing a Star Wars T-shirt, had travelled from Alaska, officials said. He checked in an unloaded gun and ammunition with his luggage, and loaded the semi-automatic gun in the bathroom after landing and collecting his bag.

“We are looking at all avenues. We have not ruled out terrorism and we will be pursuing every angle to try to determine the motive behind this attack,” the FBI’s George Piro told journalists.

Sheriff Scott Israel earlier said it appeared that the suspect had acted alone.

Mr Santiago is expected to face federal charges and make his first appearance in court on Monday.

The suspect is a former member of the Puerto Rico and Alaska National Guard, according to the Pentagon. He served in Iraq from April 2010 to February 2011, and ended his service in August 2016.

US media reported that he had received a general discharge from the Alaska National Guard for unsatisfactory performance.

Mr Piro said that Mr Santiago had turned up at an FBI office in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, in November, behaving erratically and was turned over to local police, who took him to a medical facility for a mental evaluation.

“We looked at his contacts, we did our inter-agency checks and everything and, at that point, we closed our assessment,” he added, saying that Mr Santiago had “clearly” stated that he did not intend to harm anyone.

An unnamed official quoted by AP news agency said that Mr Santiago told FBI agents back then that the US government was controlling his mind and making him watch videos from so-called Islamic State (IS).

His brother said he had been receiving psychological treatment recently.

A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama had expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims. In a tweet, President-elect Donald Trump sent his “thoughts and prayers”.

Flying with firearms is legal in the US as long as the guns are kept in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage only, under rules of the Transport Security Administration (TSA). Ammunition is also allowed only in checked luggage.

The attack was the latest in a series of mass shootings in the US in recent years, carried out by people who said they were inspired by jihadist groups, loners or mentally disturbed, who had easy access to weapons under US gun laws.

Last year, in the worst shooting in recent US history, a man, apparently inspired by IS, killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

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Source: BBC

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