The Broward County Sheriff held a press conference on Wednesday to provide updates into their investigation into the deadly school shooting that happened on Thursday in Parkland, Florida.
Shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, admitted to shooting and murdering 17 people, and injuring 15 others, at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Valentine’s Day.
Mostly discussing ways he’d make students safer moving forward, Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters, ‘We need to talk about sensible gun control.’
‘There are certain people in this country who shouldn’t be allowed to ever have a gun,’ he added at the press conference.
‘We’re at a point in American history where if we’re gonna be safe, it’s up to the law makers.’
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel held a press conference on Wednesday to provide updates into their investigation into the deadly school shooting that happened on Thursday in Parkland, Florida; He largely discussed ways he’d make students safer
‘Laws have to be changed, we can’t do the same-old, same-old,’ he said.
‘I’m not a lawmaker, I can only enforce the laws on the books, but things needs to be changed in America,’ he said.
‘And I’m gonna use my voice and my platform in the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to try and get that accomplished.’
‘Even if these things don’t work out, so what?’ the Sheriff asked, rhetorically. His message was that trying is better than doing nothing, and continuing to throw around language about ‘having conversations’ without taking action.
For his part, Sheriff Israel said his deputies who are qualified and trained will now be carrying rifles on school grounds.
Shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, admitted to shooting and murdering 17 people, and injuring 15 others, at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Valentine’s Day
When the rifle is not actually on a deputy’s person, it will be stored and locked in a police vehicle, and in no other location, he said.
‘We need to be able to defeat any threat that comes on to campus,’ he said.
Beyond that, the Sheriff discussed his opinions on other ways to better secure schools during the press conference.
‘It’s a three-pronged approach,’ he said. I think schools as soft targets need to be fortified. We need to look at how many school resources deputes are being employed at each school. I think the cities and I need to look at that.’
There are things like CPTED, which is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. I think we could build schools differently, or even with schools that are already built, look at how environmentally we can build things that could protect an egress, an escape route.
‘We also need to talk about sensible gun control. There are certain people in this country who shouldn’t be allowed to ever have a gun.’
The Sheriff also said that the Baker Act should be expanded, which is the law that allows law enforcement to take individuals into custody, involuntarily, if they are thought to be an imminent threat to themselves or others
The Sheriff also said that the Baker Act should be expanded, which is the law that allows law enforcement to take individuals into custody, involuntarily, if they are thought to be an imminent threat to themselves or others.
He referenced how that would change how officers can deal with people who post things on social media that are of a violent or threatening nature.
‘They may not be an immediate threat to themselves or someone else,’ he said, ‘but if they are at threat or their language is threatening, if they talk about “I want to grow up and be a killer,” if they have graphic pictures of blood and gore, and we have through a totality of evidence, a belief that this person needs to be examined by a medical professional, we need to be able to take that person and involuntarily Baker Act them.’
He also added that when a person leaves a mental facility after such an evaluation, they should not be given back any weapons they might own. They should, instead, be considered to be in a state of rehabilitation, similar to that of people who are recovering from physical injuries and don’t immediately return to their previous, everyday lifestyle, he said.
‘For people who suffer from mental illness, my heart goes out to them,’ Sheriff Israel said.
‘I want to see people heal, of course, but when people have just undergone a psychiatric evaluation and we’re worried about their mental health, these people need to be away from guns, until they are evaluated, maybe years down the road.’
Regarding his recommendations, the Sheriff said he would be meeting with city officials to try to get these things implemented.
‘Certainly every school i the nation should have a school resource deputy there should be no school that doesn’t have at least one,’ the Sheriff added, when asked to elaborate on the point.
School Resource Officer and Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Peterson was on campus at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Thursday, and armed at the time of the attack.
But the campus spans 45 acres and he was not located where the shooter carried out the tragic massacre. The SRO did not discharge his weapon, Israel said.
Peterson’s actions, as well as the actions of all deputies involved, will be scrutinized, Israel said. ‘This is a fluid investigation,’ the Sheriff said.
He added that Peterson had the tools and training necessary, should an opportunity have presented himself to contain the shooter.
He said their training and policies are clear that in an active shooter situation in a school, law enforcement are supposed to ‘push towards the shooter’ and ‘contain the threat.’
Sheriff said his office would be sure to follow up with answers to any questions he wasn’t able to provide on Wednesday.
In response to theories that have surfaced on the internet in the days after the attack that student victims who have come forward are actors, Sheriff Scott Israel said that made no sense.
‘To anybody who would say that these are actors and these weren’t real students, it defies logic and comprehension,’ Sheriff Scott Israel said.
The Sheriff intends to use his voice and platform to push for changes in law to make kids safer