The Parkland shooting massacre in Florida will be reenacted with gunfire as part of a case against a sheriff’s deputy. Friday, Aug. 4, ballistics experts will fire up to 139 shots at the school where the shooting took place.
The 2018 shooting left 17 dead and 17 wounded. It sparked a nationwide movement for gun control. 24-year-old Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison.
The six-minute attack will be reenacted as part of a lawsuit that accuses sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson of failing to protect the victims. As the reenactment takes place, technicians outside the school will record the sound of gunfire in an attempt to capture what Peterson would have heard. Peterson claims he didn’t hear all of the shots and couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from, that’s why he didn’t enter the school to stop the shooter. Instead, he stood next to an adjoining building for 40 minutes making radio calls.
The experts will fire live ammunition from the same spots as Cruz, with an identical AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
The question is the volume of the gunfire, taking into account that the building’s doors and windows were mostly shut during the shooting. Whether the recording will be played at trial has not been decided yet.
60-year-old Peterson was acquitted in June of felony child neglect and other criminal charges. However, families of the victims, who are bringing the new lawsuit, argue that Peterson retreated out of cowardice.
A trial date has not been set, and the families, along with the wounded, are seeking unspecified damages.
Parkland sent warnings to residents so they won’t be alarmed if they hear gunshots near the school. After the shooting reenactment on Friday, the Broward County School District says it will begin demolishing the building. It had remained standing to serve as evidence in Cruz’s and Peterson’s criminal trials.
