.@JakeTapper asks Broward sheriff if he thinks the Parkland shooting might not have happened if his office had done things differently.
Sheriff responds: “If ifs and butts were candy and nuts OJ Simpson would still be in the record books.” pic.twitter.com/D3aTk8RIsC
— Ellison Barber (@ellisonbarber) February 25, 2018
Last week, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel began to come under fire after the resignation of the deputy who was stationed at Stoneman Douglas High School during the Valentine’s Day massacre. Israel told reporters that Scot Peterson should have entered the school and stopped gunman Nikolas Cruz, but then it was reported that an additional three deputies waited outside the school with guns drawn as the massacre unfolded. This realization has led to a social media push for Israel’s resignation, and Jake Tapper confronted the county’s lead lawman on State of the Union not only about the (lack of a) shooting response from his department but also how Cruz was clearly on law enforcement’s radar. The conversation wasn’t a friendly one:
Tapper: “Do you think that if the Broward Sheriff’s office had done things differently, this shooting might not have happened?”
Israel: “If ifs and butts were candy and nuts OJ Simpson would still be in the record books.”
Tapper: “I don’t know what that means. There’s 17 dead people and a whole long list of things your department could have done differently.”
Israel: “How could ….? Listen, uh. That’s what after-action reports are [for]. That for lessons-learned reports are for …”
Israel continued while stressing that Scot Peterson may have saved lives if he’d entered the building during the shooting, but he believes no city or county’s law enforcement force would have done things perfectly. However, Tapper urged him to “get to the bottom of it” because people are demanding answers.
Elsewhere in this segment, Tapper appeared stunned when Israel claimed to have “amazing leadership” over his department, even in the face of failures while handling Nikolas Cruz. And in the below clip, Israel insists that he won’t resign despite a growing chorus (including from a Florida state lawmaker) for him to step down over the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.
“Of course I won’t resign,” says Sheriff Scott Israel, after Florida state representative sends letter to Gov. Rick Scott calling for Israel’s removal for “neglect of duty and incompetence” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/tQ0ai2G92p
— CNN (@CNN) February 25, 2018
(Via CNN)