The news about what the armed officer assigned to Stoneman Douglas High School did, or did not do, had to be another terrible blow to the friends and families of the 17 shot and killed in Parkland Florida.
They were already angry about the FBI not following up on a reliable and dangerous tip about the 19 year old killer.
They were already devastated by the news that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office had responded about 20 times to reports of violence or trouble at the killer’s home and never made an arrest.
And they were already mystified by the news that the local Child Protective Services agency had looked into problems at the killer’s home but he never got the help he needed.
And now they find out that the armed deputy assigned to the school after going to the building where the killer was spaying bullets into classrooms, just sat outside doing nothing for four minutes. And the killing was over in 6 minutes.
The deputy abruptly resigned before he could be fired. The Broward County Sheriff was quoted as saying "I am devastated. Sick to my stomach.”
Well, sheriff so are those families and friends of the 17 people who died that day.
You imagine being the parent of one those dead kids knowing that so much went so wrong.
Some good things did happen that day. We saw it those who showed amazing courage protecting students in classrooms or helping them safely flee or even using, and in a few cases even sacrificing their own lives, to shield students from bullets that otherwise would have killed them.
We can only hope and pray that because of the loud voices of the students who survived something very good will happen that can prevent this from ever happening again.
(Photo Credit Getty Images)