Feb 27, 2018
The armed school officer branded a coward by President Donald Trump has defended his actions during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
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”.
