President Donald Trump torched the “coward” school safety officer who did not respond to the shooting in Parkland, Florida during his speech at CPAC Friday.
As the shooter rampaged through Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17, Deputy Scot Peterson hid. According to reports, Peterson, “was seeking cover behind a concrete column leading to a stairwell” as the shooter killed students. Peterson was armed and in uniform but “he never went in” to the school, Broward County Sheriff Scot Israel told the press Thursday. Petersen has since resigned.
Trump named Peterson directly, calling him a “coward.”
“When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage, or something happened. He certainly did a poor job. That’s the case where somebody was outside, they are trained, they didn’t react properly under pressure or they were a coward.”
“He was tested under fire, and it wasn’t a good result,” POTUS continued added.
Earlier in the day, Trump addressed the issue of arming teachers in a statement he made to reporters.
I’d rather have somebody that loves their students and wants to protect their students then somebody standing outside that doesn’t know anybody and doesn’t know the students, and frankly, for whatever reason, decided not to go in, even though he heard lots of shots being fired inside.
In response to the Parkland tragedy, Trump has proposed arming roughly 20 percent of teachers in the country.
WATCH: