Fox News says numerous sources have confirmed to them that EMT services asked for permission to attend to the victims in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting but were denied by law enforcement. Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested in the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that took 17 lives.
One Florida official told Fox News that it was the Broward County Sheriff's office that told Emergency Medical Services they could not enter the school.
“What’s going to come out is, in the communications on several circumstances, there was the request to enter," the official said, "the request was denied from Broward County."
“When you have a police agency saying we don’t want you going in, that’s a problem,” said a different Florida official. “The training since Columbine has been [that] first responders, police go in immediately with paramedics.”
"There are multiple investigations being conducted in addition to the Stoneman Douglas shooting," the Broward County Sheriff's office said in a statement. "Investigators will not be rushed or asked to jump to conclusions."
"Their investigations are thorough and methodical as they take and compare witness statements, review dozens of incident reports, transcribe and analysis numerous radio transmissions, listen to more than 80 911 calls,” they added.
"Decisions cannot be made in a vacuum," said Mike Moser, the Fire Administration Division Chief of the Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department. "All of the variables must be taken into consideration before a rescue task force can be enabled."
"It is possible that those that are upset about not being allowed inside," he added, "simply do not have all the information that our law enforcement partners had in making their decision."
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has been under intense critique for the actions undertaken during the Florida shooting. Critics also point to numerous missed warning signs to Broward County police that could have led to the shooting being prevented.
Carlos Garcia
Staff Writer