FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A Florida sheriff\u2019s deputy fled to safety during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, putting his own life ahead of the children he was charged with protecting and giving the gunman time to fatally shoot several victims, prosecutors told jurors Monday during the closing arguments of his trial on child neglect charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson could have located and stopped Nikolas Cruz as he carried out his Feb. 14, 2018, attack inside the three-story 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutor Kristen Gomes told the jury. But instead of opening a door, looking in a window or seeking information from fleeing students, he chose to take shelter next to an adjoining building, Gomes said. That prevented him from confronting Cruz before he reached the third floor, where six of Cruz\u2019s 17 killings were committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if he hadn\u2019t killed Cruz, his presence would have distracted him, giving students and teachers time to flee or hide, or caused him to surrender or commit suicide, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChoose to go in or choose to run? Scot Peterson chose to run,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cWhen the defendant ran, he left behind an unrestricted killer who spent the next four minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at his leisure. Because when Scot Peterson ran, he left them in a building with a predator unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Peterson\u2019s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, argued that Peterson is being made a \u201csacrificial lamb\u201d for failures by elected officials and administrators. He said the evidence proves Peterson\u2019s insistence that the gunshots\u2019 echoes prevented him from pinpointing Cruz\u2019s location is the truth and Peterson did everything he could under the circumstances. Criticizing his actions now is \u201cMonday morning quarterbacking\u201d using facts that were unknown to Peterson in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the only person responsible for what happened that day is \u201cthat monster\u201d Cruz. He said two dozen students, teachers and others testified that they also could not pinpoint where the shots were coming from \u2014 some of them from inside the building where the shooting happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis whole hearing-based prosecution is flawed and offensive,\u201d Eiglarsh said. He said Peterson acted heroically during the shooting, staying put to transmit whatever information he had and would have charged into the building if he knew where the shooter was. But if he did that or went elsewhere without solid information and the shooter then killed others where Peterson had left, he would have been prosecuted for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was damned no matter what,\u201d Eiglarsh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson, the school\u2019s on-campus deputy, is being tried for felony child neglect and other charges for the deaths and injuries on the third floor. He is not charged in connection with the deaths of 11 people killed on the first floor before he reached the building. It is the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer has been tried in connection with a school shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson, 60, sometimes looked down and shook his head during the prosecution\u2019s presentation. Several members of the victims\u2019 families glared at Eiglarsh from the gallery during his argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors, during their two-week presentation, called to the witness stand students, teachers and law enforcement officers<\/a> who testified about the horror they experienced and how they knew where Cruz was. Some said they knew for certain the shots were coming from the 1200 building. Prosecutors also called a training supervisor<\/a> who testified Peterson did not follow protocols for confronting an active shooter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eiglarsh during his two-day presentation 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eiglarsh also emphasized the failure of the sheriff\u2019s radio system during the attack, which limited what Peterson heard from arriving deputies. Gomes said the radio system worked well during the critical first minutes of the attack, with Peterson being the one with the best information as he was within feet of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The jury will also have to decide whether Peterson was a caregiver to the juvenile students who died and were wounded on the third floor \u2014 a legal requirement for him to be convicted of child neglect. Florida law defines a caregiver as \u201ca parent, adult household member or other person responsible for a child\u2019s welfare.\u201d Caregivers are guilty of felony neglect if they fail to make a \u201creasonable effort\u201d to protect children or don\u2019t provide necessary care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The six jury members deliberated for about 90 minutes Monday before adjourning until Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gomes said every parent who dropped their child off that morning expected Peterson to protect the students. Eiglarsh said Peterson was not responsible for feeding or clothing the students, so he was not their caregiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security videos show that 36 seconds after Cruz\u2019s attack began, Peterson exited his office about 100 yards (92 meters) from the 1200 building and jumped into a cart with two unarmed civilian security guards. They arrived at the building a minute later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peterson got out of the cart near the east doorway to the first-floor hallway. Cruz was at the hallway\u2019s opposite end, firing his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peterson, who was not wearing a bullet-resistant vest, did not open the door. Instead, he took cover 75-feet (23 meters) away in the alcove of a neighboring building, his gun still drawn. He stayed there for 40 minutes, long after the shooting ended and other police officers had stormed the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gomes\u2019 colleague, Chris Killoran, told the jury during the prosecution\u2019s rebuttal argument that if Peterson truly didn\u2019t know the shooter\u2019s location and wanted to find him, he would have looked into the 1200 building as he was only feet away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peterson faces up to nearly 100 years in prison if convicted, although because of his clean record a sentence anywhere near that length is highly unlikely. He could also lose his $104,000 annual pension. He had spent nearly three decades working at schools, including nine years at Stoneman Douglas. He retired shortly after the shooting and was then fired retroactively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cruz\u2019s jury could not unanimously<\/a>\u00a0agree he deserved the death penalty. The 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student was\u00a0then sentenced to life in prison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n