For Scot Peterson, the last five years have been a whirlwind of emotions and a constant reminder of the Parkland massacre.
The 60-year-old former police officer spoke Thursday night with NBC6 and Telemundo 51 at his lawyer’s Hollywood home, hours after he was cleared of charges against him for failing to act to prevent the killing of students and teachers. at a Parkland school in 2018.
“It was a wave of emotion,” Peterson said, describing how he felt when the judge read the verdict on the 11 counts. “A sense of relief that you can’t imagine. It was just incredible.”
Peterson was charged with seven counts of gross child neglect for the four students killed and three wounded in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“To hear those words, ‘not guilty’ and to validate everything that I and (attorney Mark Eiglarsh) have known for the last several years, to hear the facts and actually see and know what really happened,” he said.
Peterson arrived at the 1200 building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before the attackers reached the third floor, but instead of going inside, Peterson walked away as gunshots rang out.
He assured that he did not know where the shots came from.
“Of course, if I had known and had the information and knew that there was a mugger in that building, of course I would have gone into that building,” Peterson said. “I mean, that’s what the officers are there for.”
During the trial, Peterson’s attorney presented the testimony of several police officers who arrived at the scene during the shooting and who said they did not think the shots came from the 1200 building. Peterson did not testify.
“I would do the same thing,” Peterson said when asked if he would have done anything differently. “It’s how Mark said at the trial with the evidence. When I heard the first two or three shots, I thought the shots were outside. I told my agency two days after the shooting that I thought the shots were outside.”
Peterson said he would like the opportunity to speak with the families of the victims to tell them what really happened.
“I would say, let me tell you what really happened and not just that I don’t have to justify my actions,” he said. “I know what my actions were and I sleep at night. I can say that I did the best I could with the information I had – which was nothing at the time – and that’s the truth.”
Peterson said he will spend another week in South Florida with his family before returning home to North Carolina.
