This is a really sad story. It’s also a story about real heroes. Among the victims of the Parkland shooting were three Junior ROTC members who ran toward the fire:
Three cadets killed in the Parkland school shooting are being posthumously honored for their acts of heroism.
The Army is recognizing Peter Wang, 15, and Martin Duque and Alaina Petty, both 14, with the Medal of Heroism for the danger and extraordinary responsibility they took on during last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Friends said the three always had a sense of duty and honor as members of the school’s junior ROTC.
Also Tuesday, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point posthumously admitted Peter to the prestigious academy on the day of his funeral. It’s where Peter dreamed of attending. He could have been in the Class of 2025.
Peter died in his JROTC uniform last Wednesday, holding the door open to allow others to escape, as gunman Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman, authorities and witnesses said.
“He saved people’s lives,” said Victoria Downing, one of Peter’s classmates, at the funeral service. “He deserves it.”
West Point conferred the letter of admission, along with honorarium tokens, to his family, local West Point alumnus Chad Maxey said.
Gov. Rick Scott also has directed the Florida National Guard to honor all three cadets. Alaina was honored at her funeral Monday, as Martin will be at his funeral Saturday.
They died trying to help their fellow students. There were other hero JROTC kids too:
When mass murderer Nikolas Cruz came to the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday, and began slaughtering students, two Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) captains were able to use their training to protect their classmates.
Company commander Capt. Zackary Walls, 17, and Capt. Colton Haab, 17, told ABC News that they had finished formations for the afternoon when they heard Cruz shooting and were able to get students and teachers inside safely.
They also thought quickly and protected the kids in their classroom with the Kevlar curtains they use for training:
The word hero could not be used to describe the Broward County police:
An armed school resource deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School stood outside of the building and did “nothing” while a gunman opened fire on students and teachers, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday.
“Devasted,” Israel said was his reaction at seeing video that showed the deputy taking a position outside the building, but never going in during the rampage that killed 17. “Sick to my stomach. There are no words.”
Israel identified the deputy as Scot Peterson.
After surveillance video captured the deputy standing outside the building, Israel said he was placed on unpaid leave.
Peterson has since filed for retirement from the department.
This is astonishing and depressing. It is dereliction. And it gets worse. The Broward County Sheriff, Scott Israel, has been “shooting” his mouth off in the aftermath of the tragedy.
In the wake of this week’s deadly Florida high school shooting, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel called out local lawmakers during a candlelight vigil for the victims, saying those who did not push for new gun laws “will not get reelected.”
“If you’re an elected official, and you want to keep things the way they are, and not do things differently, if you want to keep the gun laws as they are now, you will not get re-elected in Broward County,” Israel said Thursday night to cheers, as locals grieved the 17 victims killed a day earlier.
Today we learn that, in addition to the 39 times police had been summoned to Cruz’s residence, Cruz had repeatedly threatened people with a gun:
On the day after Thanksgiving, Cruz was at work at a Dollar Tree store. Rocxanne Deschamps’ son, Rock, 22, called 911 to report that an “adopted 19-year-old son” had possibly hidden a “gun in the backyard,” according to a dispatcher’s notes. Rock Deschamps told law enforcement “there were no weapons allowed in the household,” the report said. It’s unclear from the record whether sheriff’s deputies conducted a search. The incident was classified as “domestic unfounded,” which means a deputy didn’t find proof to back up the claims.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office was called again to the home four days later, when Rock said Cruz lashed out against the family that took him in, according to the Palm Beach deputy’s report and dispatcher notes. The deputy went to a local park and found Cruz, who explained that he had misplaced a photo of his recently deceased mother and, emotionally distraught, began punching the wall. Cruz lost control the same way he had several times in the past at his mother’s home in Parkland, Florida, when he had not taken his prescribed mood-altering medication, as CNN has previously reported based on Broward police documents.
Rock interrupted Cruz and a fight broke out between them, according to the documents. Cruz left the home, and Rocxanne Deschamps called 911. She warned the police dispatcher that Cruz said “he was going to get his gun and come back,” records show. She said Cruz had “bought a gun from Dick’s last week and is now going to pick it up.”
Rocxanne Deschamps told the dispatcher that Cruz had “bought tons of ammo” and “has used a gun against ppl before,” the notes said. “He has put the gun to others heads in the past.”
The people of Palm Beach and Broward Counties may want to take up Israel’s advice and elect a Sheriff and a police force up to the job of protecting people. The kids did their best.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
The little puke is on suicide watch, boy has he learned to play the “adults”, his entire existence no accountability, no matter how hard he pushed it
The coward cop, should be sent cards with the pictures of the dead kids over and over and over.
I argue with many friends and relatives about why I keep firearms. And why they should as well. To protect yourself and your family is NOT BEING A VIGILANTE! It is what has to be done all too often. This is an example of why “law enforcement” can not be counted on to protect innocent!
I wish the kids had had at least ’03 Springfield’s! M14’s would be even better!
Perhaps Peterson got his cowardice training from Israel. Yet children with military training acted heroically.
This is why volunteer, trained teachers and staff will always be a better deterrent than a hired outsider.
These JROTC students can’t be lauded and thanked enough.
2 things here
# 1. ValHala must be rocking it now for its most courage’s and jr members are there now.
# 2.“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
― George S. Patton Jr.
We are now up to four of his deputies who stood by and did nothing. The Coral Springs PD said they rolled up on the scene and three of his deputies were hunkered down behind their cars whereas the Coral Spings’ officers went in to get him. The chief had some pretty damning words for the sheriff’s department.
I may have guns in my home as I am well aware that cops carry guns to protect themselves. All they do is investigate after the crime. When TSHTF, cops are 10 minutes away. I prefer something quicker.
@Bookdoc: Yes Doc many women carry guns cause cops are too heavy.
@another vet: AND a 2016 warning that Cruz wanted to shoot up the school was called in and forwarded to… Scott Peterson. Seems Israel must have been instructing cowardice to his deputies.
But, hey, f**k the facts, let’s all blame the NRA and the gun!
@Bill… Deplorable Me: Blame everyone else for your failures. I wonder if he’s related to Obama?
another vet
He has been very active in THE RESISTANCE for 14 months. So if not related for sure a supporter. like Yeb and Charlie. the “elite” in Fl are not MAGA folk; have not been such for decades.
Having had this conversation with a good friend who is retired law enforcement, I have come to the conclusion that better security is needed in the schools. We can pay a school system to have five Principles, one for each of five grades, but cannot pay for security. My suggestion is that security hired to protect students need to be persons who have been involved in shooting situations before. As my friend explained, no one knows what they will do when they are fired at, until it happens. If they ran, they will run the next time. That they survived a shoot out should be a qualifier. Secondly, this Deputy will carry this inside his head for the rest of his life. He should be the one placed on suicide watch. The police Officer who failed to check a pedestrian two blocks away from a Zodiak killers victim stated in interviews that that was the biggest regret of his life, bar none. If you are to have school security, it should be people who are prepared to act violently. Arming generally benevolent teachers is not the answer.
@an ol exJarhead: I guess that is why we correctly refer to them as the “collective”. They sure seem to be like the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Florida school shooting: Trump says ‘I would have run in unarmed’
Yeah, if it weren’t for the bone spurs in his heels… They still flare up from time to time.
@Greg: I bet he would have done more than hung a “gun free zone” sign.