Parkland shooting investigator shares 'lessons learned' in North Carolina

Elaina Athans Image
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Parkland shooting investigator shares 'lessons learned' with SBI
A man tapped by the Florida governor to head a commission examining the Parkland school shooting shared his 'lessons learned' with local law enforcement officers and school adminis

A man tapped by the Florida governor to head a commission examining the Parkland school shooting shared his 'lessons learned' with local law enforcement officers and school administrators.

"They were totally and fully unprepared for it," said Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. "That school district -- 20 years after Columbine, 6 years after Sandy Hook and all these other shootings -- that school district never had an active shooter response policy."

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is holding the series to improve school safety and scheduled the lecture before the weekend's back-to-back shootings.

"What happened there, I can't live with that," said Gualtieri. "I don't think you can and we shouldn't."

Gualtieri said to this day, Stoneman Douglas High School is guarded 24/7 and the building remains a crime scene.

There is still blood on the floors and items throughout the building remain in the spot where they were when gunshots rang out.

"The work that they were working on is still sitting on their desk," said Gualtieri. "34 people were shot and/or killed in 3 minutes and 51 seconds. That doesn't work, that's not acceptable."

He said some communities feel they'll somehow be exempt from experiencing such tragedy.

"The City of Parkland, two days before this incident, was named the safest city in Florida so the message to that is...just because it hasn't happened to you, it's going to happen again and the question is where - and you might be next unfortunately."

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Bob Schurmeier believes the lecture will help improve safety and prevent school violence. He said one group that could benefit is the BETA team.

"It helps identity potential shooters....people who are on the pathway to mass violence," he said.

Special agents, intelligence analysis workers and a psychologist are all working in harmony. This unit is constantly trying to identifying people among us who are keen on causing harm.

"It's not a program to lock everyone up or commit them to an institution. It's to identify the sources of stress and divert them off the pathway," said Schurmeier.

Officials said prevention is key and it's important for the public to contact appropriate authorities if they're concerned about a certain individual.

"It's after the fact we find out that this person had said certain things or done certain things, and there was an opportunity for intervention," said Gualtieri.