Authorities just released surveillance video showing what happened outside the Florida high school during the shooting
- The Broward Sheriff's Office released surveillance video on Thursday showing what happened outside the building where the Florida shooting took place.
- The video appears to show an armed deputy standing outside the building for several minutes and not entering.
- The deputy, Scot Peterson, resigned after the sheriff's office investigated and found that he did "nothing" instead of confronting the gunman.
A newly released video appears to show that an armed school resource officer remained outside the Florida high-school building where a mass shooting took place on February 14, killing 17 people.
The video was released at noon on Thursday after multiple media organizations sued for access, arguing that the public had a right to know what happened during the tragedy.
A judge granted that request, and neither the school district nor the Broward Sheriff's Office appealed the ruling.
The deputy shown in the video, Scot Peterson, resigned in disgrace roughly a week after the shooting, though his lawyer disputed accusations that Peterson failed to follow protocol or acted cowardly.
"The video speaks for itself," the sheriff's office said in a statement on Thursday. "His actions were enough to warrant an internal affairs investigation, as requested by Sheriff Scott Israel on Feb. 21. After being suspended without pay, Peterson chose to resign and immediately retired rather than face possible termination."
Watch a clip of the video below:
Starting around the 1:30-minute-mark of the video, Peterson can be seen standing at the top left-hand corner of the frame.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told media that Peterson did "nothing" when he should have gone into the building and "addressed the killer - killed the killer."
"I am devastated," Israel said at a February 22 press conference. "Sick to my stomach. He never went in."
According to Peterson's lawyer, Peterson decided not to enter the building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school where the shooting took place because he believed the gunfire was outdoors.
But internal radio dispatches released last week appeared to contradict that defense, as Peterson could be heard telling dispatchers that the gunfire was coming from "inside the 1200" building, and warning fellow deputies to stay at least 500 feet away from the scene.
It ultimately took 11 minutes after the shooting began before authorities entered the building, by which point the suspected gunman had already ditched his weapon and fled the school by blending into a crowd of students.