Florida House Republicans Demand Sheriff’s Ouster Over Parkland Shooting Response
Florida House Republicans Demand Sheriff’s Ouster Over Parkland Shooting Response
“As a result of Sheriff Israel’s failures, students and teachers died,” the 74 state lawmakers wrote in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott
Nearly
every Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives is
calling on Gov. Rick Scott (R) to suspend a county sheriff over his
office’s response to a deadly mass shooting at a local high school
earlier this month.
Florida
House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R) tweeted a letter he sent to Scott on
Sunday, urging him to suspend Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for
“incompetence and dereliction of duty.”
In
the four-page letter, 74 out of Florida’s 76 Republican state House
representatives accused Israel of failing to take significant action to
prevent the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland, Florida, in which a 19-year-old suspected gunman confessed to
killing 17 people using an assault-style rifle.
“In
the years leading up to this unspeakable tragedy, Sheriff Israel, his
deputies, and staff ignored repeated warning signs about the violent,
erratic, threatening and antisocial behavior of Nikolas Jacob Cruz,” the
legislators wrote, referencing the suspected gunman.
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