Florida High School Massacre Commission Considers School Safety Plans
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – There are new developments in the ongoing effort to review and repair issues that led to the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this year.
Missed red flags and security lapses are just a couple of the items highlighted in a critical report about the massacre at Stoneman Douglas.
Ten months after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, the commission set up by the legislature to look into it has issued a preliminary report.
On Wednesday, a 400-page draft report was released.
"The report you have in front of you is very much a draft and it is far from a final product," said MSD Commission Chairman Bob Gualtieri.
The mass shooting in Parkland left 17 people dead and another 17 injured.
Commissioners noted a big problem; school security and an open gate.
"Cruz exploited this open and unstaffed gate and it is what allowed him access to the campus," said Gualtieri. "This open and unstaffed gate was a security failure."
The commission is recommending a statewide overhaul of school security.
One commissioner noting that failure to lock the gate lead to deadly consequences.
"I keep going back to if you had the front gates locked, if the front door was locked, if Medina confronted the guy when he should have, if the school resource officer Peterson challenged the man when he should have you might have a different outcome here," said commissioner Mike Carroll.
The commission looked at every aspect of school security, policies, law enforcement response, missed red flags and devastating communication errors.
It also called out the Broward Sheriffs Office, including deputies who did not race toward the gunfire fast enough and a BSO policy regarding active shooters.
"I'm immensely concerned with Sheriff Israel testimony and I asked about his policy that said they "may" enter the building not, that they shall or that they had to," said Polk County Sheriff and MSD Safety Commission member Grady Judd. "And he took personal responsibility for inserting the word may."
Commissioners did not hold back.
"The people around this table and the people working behind the scenes seem to be taking this much more seriously than Broward County and the officials in Broward," said commissioner Melissa Larkin-Skinner. "It actually makes me physically ill."
Max Schachter is on the commission. His son Alex was murdered during the Valentine's Day shooting.
He reminded commissioners of the importance of their work.
"The recommendations that we make today should be made with the mindset that the next mass murderer is already out there, the next gun that he will use is already out there," said Schachter.