Miami Herald by Nicholas Nehamas
August 22, 2018
Surveillance footage from outside the Parkland school shooting should soon be released after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from the Broward County School Board and Broward State Attorney’s office.
In rulings released Wednesday, the court said it would not entertain any further motions for rehearing.
The footage in question may show how law enforcement responded to the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. The Miami Herald and other media organizations including CNN and the South Florida Sun Sentinel had sued to obtain the footage.
Two lower courts agreed in succession that the footage should be released, prompting appeals from the school board and the state attorney.
It is expected to be released Wednesday afternoon.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office’s response to the mass shooting has drawn national scrutiny, some of it critical. Coral Springs police officers, who also responded to the school, said they saw Broward deputies taking cover outside instead of running into the freshman building to save lives, including the school’s resource officer, Deputy Scot Peterson, who later resigned.
“We’ve believed from the start that the release of this footage is in the public interest,” Herald managing editor Rick Hirsch said Wednesday. “How law enforcement responded to this tragedy is something that demands scrutiny.”
The footage has been redacted so as not to show individual students. Media outlets did not request footage from inside the freshman building, and none of the footage slated for release shows the carnage inside.
