Commanding officer initially ordered officers to ‘stage’

Police officers may have been ordered to ‘stage’ and set a ‘perimeter’ rather than enter and pursue the Florida high school shooter while he was still on the loose, according to new details.

Dispatch logs from that day appear to show a commanding officers tell crews to stage and form a perimeter, prior to the time the shooter had been located, Fox News reported on Wednesday. 

If true, this is in direct contrast to stated Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) policy on how to approach an active shooter situation.

The BSO, which was the commanding agency on the scene that day, would not comment on allegations of any bad commands that may have been given, or on the timeline of the shooting.

Shoot Nikolas Cruz, 19, was eventually taken into custody, but not before shooting and killing 17 people and injuring 15 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14.

Multiple reports and police information have Cruz entering what’s referred to as Building 12 on campus at about 2.21 pm Easter, and opening fire.

The shooting reportedly lasted seven and a half minutes. 

The following times are all as reflected by the dispatch log obtained by Fox News. 

At 2.23 pm, the first call came in that shots had been fired, from a female student. 

At 2.25 pm, responding officers at witness reported more ‘SHOTS FIRED.’

At 2.26 pm, a call identified the shots as coming from ‘THE 1200 BLDG.’

At 2.26:56 pm, ‘UNITS ADV SHOTS FIRED’ appeared on the log, meaning units were ordered to the scene. 

At 2.29 pm, ‘UKNOWN SHOOTER LOCATION’ was entered on the log.

At 2.30 pm, the log read ‘HE HEARD SHOTS FIRED, HE IS IN 11th GRADE IN A MATH CLASS, UNK ROOM NUMBER,’ in response to a call that came in from a mother reporting what her son had told her.

Law enforcement personnel work the scene at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting that killed and injured multiple people on February 14 in Parkland, Florida

BSO policy says that law enforcement may enter the scene and pursue an active shooter without waiting to be given orders to do so, in order to save a life

The next entry on the log showed the first order for a perimeter, 11 minutes after shots were first reported fire.

While law enforcement have said the shooting lasted for seven and a half minutes, that doesn’t mean that the shooter had been located, neutralized or taken into custody at this point. 

At 2.32 pm, ’17S1…NEED PERIMETER,’ was entered.

The code ’17S1′ reportedly stands for who was making the call to form a perimeter, according to Fox News. In this case, it stands for 17 Sierra One. 

At 2.34:48 pm, ’17S1 STAGE SIDE SAWGRASS’ was entered into the log, apparently indicating that the first command to stage was given. 

At 2.38 pm, ‘AIR RESCUE ADVISED NOT LAUNCING UNTIL CONFIRMED SUBJ IS IN CUSTODY’ was entered into the log, meaning Air Rescue told the dispatcher that they would not launch. In this instance, the term ‘advised’ would mean ‘made dispatch aware’.

Following the tragedy that unfolded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters during a news conference on February 22, of Peterson’s response at the time, ‘I think he remained outside for upwards of four minutes’

This was taken to mean that Air Rescue would not launch for fear of being shot down, because the subject was not confirmed as having been in custody, Fox News reported. 

At 2.47 pm, the log indicated the SWAT team entered the school. This was 15 minutes after the first command to form a perimeter was entered into the log, and 13 minutes after the first command to stage was entered into the log.

At 3.02 pm, ’20 MIN DELAY FROM CAMERA HE EXITED THE BUILDING RUNNING SOUTH’ was entered, apparently indicating there was a the 20-minute delay in surveillance footage that law enforcement had been using to locate the shooter. 

At 3:03 pm, ‘VIDEO SHOWS HE POSS MIXED WITH KIDS’ was entered into the log.

At 3.10 pm, ‘POSS STUDENT NICHOLAS CRUSE 43 FROM BASEBALL COACH’ was entered, indicating Cruz had been identified by a baseball coach.

At 3.16 pm, an identification of Cruz was entered again, reading ‘UNIT ADV ON DISPATCH 11A THAT THE SUBJ IS POSS A WM NAMED NICHOLAS CRUZ, WM LSAW A BURG SHIRT, BLK SHORTS, WAS LAST SEEN ON S/E END OF THE SCHOOL.’

[‘LSAW’ is commonly used dispatch shorthand for ‘last seen wearing.’] 

Jeff Bell, the president of the Broward County Sheriff’s Deputies Association, said that unless ’50’ officers were already in the building at the time the order to ‘stage’ and ‘perimiter’ was given, then that would’ve been a bad command. 

‘If that is the correct log at ten [or eleven] minutes, that we were more concerned with the perimeter than finding the shooter, it was a bad command. It could have stalled our officers or cost lives,’ he said.

Bell told Fox News that he believed the dispatch log they had obtained was likely to be 99 percent accurate. 

However, two law enforcement officials told Fox News that it’s possible the command had more information than the other crews, so it may not have been a bad call, after all.

This information comes after much has already been discussed, related to whether law enforcement’s initial response was adequate on that day.

People are brought out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting at the school that killed and injured multiple people on February 14 in Parkland, Florida

School Resource Officer and Sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson resigned from his position with the BSO.

Peterson reportedly resigned after he was told he was going to be placed on suspension without pay, pending the results of an investigation into his actions.

Following the tragedy that unfolded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters during a news conference on February 22, of Peterson’s response at the time, ‘I think he remained outside for upwards of four minutes.’

‘[He was absolutely on campus through this entire event. He was armed, he was in uniform,’ Israel said. 

Israel said Peterson was seen on camera, at the west side of a building, but ‘he never went in,’ and that he  should have gone in and ‘addressed the killer, killed the killer’.

The following day, President Donald Trump also commented on Peterson’s actions, specifically. 

‘When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage, or something happened,’ Trump said on Friday, 

‘He certainly did a poor job. That’s the case where somebody was outside, they are trained, they didn’t react properly under pressure or they were a coward.’ 

Fire Rescue personnel work the scene at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting at the school that killed 17 and injured 15 others on February 14

Peterson’s attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo III, responded to these public statements with a statement on behalf of his client on Monday.

DiRuzzo accused Israel of ‘maligning’ Peterson by saying Peterson should have gone into the school and killed the gunman. 

‘Let there be no mistake, Mr. Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the seventeen victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need,’ DiRuzzo said.

‘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.

‘Mr. Peterson is confident that his actions on that day were appropriate under the circumstances and that the video (together with the eye-witness testimony of those on the scene) will exonerate him of any sub-par performance.’

Israel, however, reportedly reviewed the video, spoke with witnesses and took a statement from Peterson, before making the initial determination to suspend him, pending the results of the final investigation. 

Peterson was also quoted in the statement, saying that when the gunfire first rang out, he ‘thought that the shots were coming from outside,’ which was why he ‘took up a tactical position.’

There have also been calls for Israel to resign on the grounds that he is ultimately responsible for the failures of his deputies, which Israel has argued is not the case.

‘Deputies make mistakes, police officers make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but it’s not the responsibility of the general or the president if you have a deserter,’ Israel told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. 

Israel was apparently referring to Peterson not entering the school.

BSO  deputies Edward Eason and Guntis Treijis have been placed on restrictive duty as officials investigate ‘whether or not they could have done more, should’ve done more,’ in the years leading up to the tragedy.

It has come to light that these two deputies had responded to at least 23 calls regarding the Florida shooter or his brother since 2008.

Protocol might not have been followed in two of the instances, according to Col. Jack Dale.

Israel has said an investigation remains ongoing. A spokersperson for the BSO told Fox News that no additional details were being released, per a Florida statute, regarding the investigation.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also investigating all responding agencies, as well as the timeline from the day of the shooting.

Cruz remains in custody and has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. 

Nikolas Cruz, 19, faced court briefly on February 15 as he was officially charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the high school shooting massacre

PICTURED: Fourteen students, geography teacher, coach and athletic director shot dead in Florida high school massacre

Jaime Guttenberg, 14, (left) was described by relatives as a ‘kind-hearted, sweet’ girl. She attended the school with her younger brother who survived and rushed home afterwards. Senior Nicholas Dworet (right) was a gifted swimmer who had his sights set on 2020 Tokyo Olympics success. His devastated college student girlfriend is among those grieving his death. Friends said he was not just a talented athlete, but a ‘good guy’ who will be missed

Martin Duque, 14, (left) was missing for hours on Wednesday and his frantic family desperately appealed for him to get in touch on social media. On Thursday, his older brother Miguel confirmed his death. Martin was a freshman. Meadow Pollack, 18, (right) was preparing for college. Her father was at the school on Wednesday and showed her photograph around in the hope that she would be found alive

Cara Loughran (left) was missing on Wednesday afternoon. Her mother Denise and her father rushed to the designated hotel where parents were told to go to be reunited with their children in the hope that she would be found alive. Her grieving neighbor confirmed her death on Thursday. Alyssa Alhadeff, 15, (right) was eulogized by her mother who said she was a talented soccer player and creative mind. ‘All she had to offer the world was love… I just sent her to school and she was shot and killed,’ she said

Luke Hoyer, 15, (left) was described as a ‘precious’ child by his grandparents who confirmed his death. They found out about the shooting on television. They said he was a ‘good kid’ who ‘never got in trouble’. Joaquin Oliver, 17, (right) was also killed. Joaquin was a Venezuelan immigrant who came to the US with his family for a ‘better future’, they said on Thursday

Gina Montalto, 15, (left) was described as a ‘light and joy’. She and Jaime, another victim, volunteered at a local project called The Friendship Initiative where they acted as buddies for children with special needs. Gina’s mother Jennifer shared pleas to find her on social media on Wednesday. Alaina Petty, 14, (right) was also killed. Her Mormon church confirmed her death, saying she was a ‘valiant’ member

Carmen Schentrup, 16, (left) was also killed in the shooting. Carmen was a gifted student who last year was named as a semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. It includes students who score above average in their SATs or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. ROTC student Peter Wang, 15, (right) also died. His parents speak little English and relied on their neighbor to post social media appeals looking for him. They went to the Marriott hotel with other parents to wait for news of him on Wednesday night and have since confirmed that he was among those killed

Alex Schachter, 14, (left) was also killed.  His mother died when he was a child and he attended the school in Florida with his brother, who survived. The teenager’s father Max said he was a ‘sweetheart of a child’ who ‘just wanted to do well and please his parents’. Helena Ramsey, 17, (right) was described by relatives as a ‘reserved’ and studious girl who was due to go to college next year

Geography Scott Beigel, 35, (left) was shot dead as he tried to lock the door of his classroom again after letting a group of fleeing students in to hide. They were running away from the gunman. Aaron Feis, 37, (right) died acting as a human shield. The track coach had thrown himself on top of the kids to stop the bullets from hitting him. He was a former student and was also a security guard at the school where he had worked for eight years

Athletic director Chris Hixon, 49, was also killed shielding students