Republican state lawmakers in Florida are calling for Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel to be suspended for what they believe is “incompetence and neglect of duty” after it came to light the agency failed to address multiple warnings about the suspected gunman in the shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school.
Joined by 73 GOP lawmakers, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott asking him to suspend Israel immediately given the actions of the Broward Sheriff’s Office before and during the Feb. 14 shooting.
“Sheriff Israel’s fundamental duty is to keep the peace and protect the citizens of Broward County. He has the power and responsibility to appoint highly qualified deputies and to ensure they received state-of-the-art training,” they wrote to Scott. “Sheriff Israel failed to maintain a culture of alertness, vigilance, and thoroughness amongst his deputies. Sheriff Israel failed to fulfill his duty to ensure that all of his deputies have the necessary active shooter tactical training.
“As a result of Sheriff Israel’s failures, students and teachers died.”
Today I sent the following letter to @FLGovScott Asking that he suspend Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for incompetence and dereliction of duty. I was honored to be joined by 73 Republican colleagues. You can read the letter attached here. pic.twitter.com/exZVwGQ3DR
— Richard Corcoran (@richardcorcoran) February 25, 2018
Seventeen people were killed and at least a dozen were injured when Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire on the school.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office and Israel, a Democrat elected sheriff in 2012, have since faced growing scrutiny for their response to the shooting as new information has come to light.
Israel told reporters Thursday a school resource officer, Deputy Scot Peterson, was on campus when Cruz began shooting and responded to the incident. However, Peterson remained outside of the high school’s freshman building and never went inside.
CNN then reported three other deputies with the Broward Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, but didn’t enter the school. Israel has denied that happened.
The agency said it received at least 23 calls regarding Cruz or his family, including one warning that Cruz “planned to shoot up the school,” but failed to investigate the incidents.
“The failures of Sheriff Israel and his deputies during and after the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, and their failures to intervene regarding Nikolas Jacob Cruz in the years, months, and days leading up to that shooting are unacceptable and unforgivable,” the Republican lawmakers wrote.
Though Israel has admitted the sheriff’s office erred in its handling of warnings about Cruz, he has resisted calls to resign.
“I can only take responsibility for what I knew about,” the sheriff told CNN in an interview Sunday. “I’ve given amazing leadership to this agency.”
Israel also said his leadership should not be measured by Peterson’s decision not to enter the school.
Prior to the letter from Corcoran and the 73 state GOP lawmakers, state Rep. Bill Hager, a Republican representing Boca Raton, sent his own letter to Scott asking him to remove Israel from office.
The sheriff addressed Hager’s letter Sunday and said it was “shameful” and “politically motivated.”
“I never met that man,” Israel said of Hager. “He doesn’t know anything about me and the letter was full of misinformation.”
Israel said he sent Scott a letter of his own correcting what he said were the mistakes in Hager’s letter.
Scott said Sunday he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the response to the shooting from Broward Sheriff’s Office and would “continue to review this matter as more facts come out.”
“There must be an independent investigation and that is why I asked the FDLE commissioner to immediately start this process,” he said.
The governor said he spoke with Corcoran about his request to suspect Israel.
“I have spoken to the speaker regularly since the shooting, and like me, he wants the families to have answers and for there to be full accountability,” Scott said. “That’s what the victims and their families deserve.”
Israel said the sheriff’s office “welcomes” Scott’s request to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“BSO will fully cooperate with FDLE, as we believe in full transparency and accountability,” he said in a statement. “This independent, outside review will ensure public confidence in the findings.”
