Stoneman Douglas High shooting to be reenacted Friday in Scot Peterson civil case

Police will close down Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday for a staged reenactment of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland that will include live gunfire as part of a lawsuit between families of the victims and a former school resource officer who did not confront the shooter.

The choreographed and recorded portrayal of the attack was authorized last month by a judge in Broward County overseeing a lawsuit against Scot Peterson, the Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy assigned to the school at the time of the shooting. Peterson is accused of negligence in a lawsuit filed by the families of the shooting victims.

The shooting resulted in the death of 14 students and three faculty members, and left 17 others injured. Nikolas Cruz, an expelled Stoneman Douglas student, was sentenced to life in prison for the massacre.

Peterson was acquitted in June of criminal charges such as felony child neglect.

The Parkland families suing Peterson sought the reenactment to counter Peterson’s representations about what he heard on the day of the shooting and why he didn’t rush into the building where Cruz was carrying out his attack.

A court document states that the event will be for “the purpose of conducting audio and video recordings ... that would parallel the killer’s movements, and the gunfire, inside of Building 12, in relation to Defendant Scot Peterson’s movements and actions outside of the building.”

The Associated Press reported that for the reenactment there will be ballistics experts who will fire real bullets with an AR-15-style semi automatic rifle identical to the one used by Cruz. The bullets will be caught by a safety device.

“Residents should be advised that the simulation will include gunfire that will be heard as far as a mile or more from” the school, the city of Parkland explained in an alert announcing road closures along sections of Holmberg Road and Pine Island Road. The announcement stated that the sound of gunshots “could last into the evening hours.”

Some of the families of the victims said they will be in attendance at the reenactment.

Max Schachter, whose son Alex was killed in the shooting, said he hopes the reenactment will help lead the families in the lawsuit one step closer to justice.

“I’m going to come to the school to witness the reenactment and it’s going to be really hard because I’ve never heard gunshots from an AR-15 with a .223 round, which is armor piercing,” said Schachter, who also helped organize a visit to the school Friday by members of Congress. “It’s going to be scary, especially knowing that these are the gunshots that Alex heard and how scared he would have been. But we hope that it will prove to the civil case against the deputy that there’s no possible way that he didn’t hear these gunshots.”

According to the Associated Press, Peterson alleged that he could not hear all of the gunshots at the time of the shooting and could not figure out the location of the shooter, which he says prevented him from entering the building. He stood outside the building for 40 minutes making radio calls.

“He said he only heard two or three [rounds] so I’m hoping that it will prove that there’s no possible way he didn’t hear the shots. It’s gonna be hard and difficult, but I’m going to do it,” said Schachter. “Alex did it and I want to understand what he went through that horrible day.”

Peterson’s lawyer, Michael Piper, supported the reenactment. He stressed in an email to the Herald that it will be up to Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips to decide whether the staged shooting “merits any evidentiary or demonstrative weight before a civil jury.”

“A jury acquitted Scot Peterson of criminal charges stemming from Nicolas Cruz’s murderous rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. There is concern in some circles that the jury did so upon determining that Scot Peterson did not know precisely where Cruz was or where Cruz was firing from,” he wrote. “The testimony of multiple witnesses who perceived shots coming from all over the school campus supports the jury’s determination.”

David Brill, the attorney representing the Parkland families, did not return emails seeking comment.

Tom Hoyer, whose son Luke was killed in the shooting, said he will also be at attendance for the reenactment.

“I’m going to the reenactment and it’s a personal thing for me. I believe in my soul that [Peterson] knew where the shots were coming from and he chickened out. So this is a chance for me to confirm that,” said Hoyer.

Hoyer is one of the officers of the Stand with Parkland organization, which is an advocacy group for public safety reforms. He works alongside Tony Montalto, who is the president of the organization. Montalto’s daughter Gina was killed in the shooting.

“The apprehension that you feel before this event is palpable, and something that we have to work through. But once we get into the event, we’re able to kind of compartmentalize the grief for a few moments and focus on the agenda,” said Montalto.

Before the reenactment, South Florida Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and Jared Moskowitz, D-Parkland, will be visiting the site of the shooting with the families of the victims and a bipartisan group of congress members.

The building is set to be demolished in the near future.