The bureaucracy that allowed the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school on Valentines Day to occur continued even after the shooting had ended.
Most are aware of the epic failures of law enforcement preceding the massacre – such as the fact that shooter Nickolas Cruz had already been reported to the FBI for publicly stating on YouTube that he was going to be the next school shooter.
Furthermore, the police had been called to the Cruz household dozens of times – and a separate internet threat about a school shooting that Cruz made in 2016 was investigated by police, but they didn’t determine him to be a threat. Had they done so, they would’ve been able to strictly monitor him. It was a fight that got Cruz expelled from Stoneman Douglas (after years of violently threatening other students), and had that fight (and threats) been properly reported to police, it would’ve gotten Cruz a criminal record that prohibited him from legally purchasing a firearm in the State of Florida.
When Cruz did shoot up his former high school, the failures only continued. Stoneman Douglas had an armed student resource officer on campus – who hid and covered as the massacre unfolded as 17 students were killed, and another 17 wounded. (RELATED: Video Released of Broward County Deputy’s Inaction During Parkland Shooting).
For a juxtaposition, there were two other school shootings this year thwarted by armed SROs, and only one person died in those two shootings.
And now we learn, after the shooting had ended and wounded students were still bleeding out in their school’s hallways, the inaction of authorities continued to take lives.
According to the Miami Herald:
During the chaos of the Parkland school shooting, paramedics from Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department were desperate to go inside the building where students were wounded and dying.
Michael McNally, deputy chief for Coral Springs fire-rescue, asked six times for permission to send in specialized teams of police officers and paramedics. But every time McNally asked to deploy the two Rescue Task Force (RTF) teams — each made up of three paramedics and three to four law enforcement officers — the Broward Sheriff’s Office captain in charge of the scene, Jan Jordan, said no.
Even after the shooter had been arrested, the answer remained the same. Gunshot wound victims can bleed out quickly, meaning fast action is necessary. The special RTF teams allow paramedics to treat victims under the protection of police officers in situations where a shooter has been pinned down or fled but has not necessarily been captured.
The more information that comes out about this shooting, the more clear it is that this shooting had less to do with access to guns and more to do with incompetent government.
Should the Broward County government be held responsible for the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School? Share your thoughts below!
