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Sheriff Israel To Local Reporter On His Deputy’s Failure: ‘That’s Not My Responsibility’

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Derek Hunter Contributor
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Embattled Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told a local NBC station on Sunday that the failure of his resource officer, who was armed and on site during the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is “not my responsibility.”

“As I said, I’m the Sheriff, my name’s on the door,” Israel said. “The people responsible are the ones who took the calls and didn’t follow up on them, as it was with the FBI, as it was with any person.”

“Leaders are responsible for the agency, but leaders are not responsible for a person,” Israel told the station. “I gave him a gun. I gave him a badge. I gave him the training. If he didn’t have the heart to go in, that’s not my responsibility.”

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Sheriff Israel, who was reelected in 2016 as a Democrat with 72 percent of the vote, earlier in the day admitted he knew about his officer’s failure to act during the massacre during a CNN town hall where he blamed the National Rifle Association for the killings.

The reaction on social media to Israel’s latest, and most adamant denial of responsibility was met with anger on social media.