Trump slams 'coward' Florida deputy who 'didn't have the courage' to confront school shooter

Reuters/Jim Bourg

U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from to reporters before departing the White House to speak at CPAC in Washington, U.S., February 23, 2018.

• President Donald Trump on Friday said the Florida deputy who didn't confront a gunman during a mass shooting last week "certainly did a poor job."
• The deputy, Scot Peterson, resigned on Thursday after an investigation revealed he had stood outside the building while the massacre took place and didn't enter.
• Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Peterson should have "addressed the killer - killed the killer."

President Donald Trump on Friday criticized the Florida deputy who resigned the previous day after an investigation revealed he never confronted the shooter who gunned down 17 people at a high school last Wednesday.

"He's trained his whole life," Trump told reporters. "But when it came time to get in there and do something, he didn't have the courage or something happened, but he certainly did a poor job, there's no question about that."

The deputy, Scot Peterson, was an armed school resource officer who did "nothing" during the massacre, according to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

Surveillance footage showed that Peterson was standing outside the building for at least four minutes while alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz gunned down students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But Peterson merely stood in position and never entered the building, Israel said.

He added that Peterson should have "went in" and "addressed the killer - killed the killer."

Trump said Friday that Peterson either "didn't react properly under pressure," or was "a coward."

"It was a real shot to the police department," Trump said.