Parents who lost children in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are pleading with the Broward Sheriff’s Office to stop delaying their civil lawsuit and allow the case to move to trial.
“All we want is to go to trial. Let’s go,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the shooting eight years ago.
Guttenberg and other parents accuse BSO of using legal maneuvers to postpone accountability. “Behind the scenes, they are delaying and refusing to accept responsibility, and that’s got to stop,” said Max Schachter, whose son Alex was also killed.
The families say a trial would not only address their long-standing questions, but also help law enforcement agencies learn from what went wrong to prevent future tragedies.
Mitchell and Anika Dworet lost their son Nick in the attack; his brother, Alex, was wounded. “It is eight years to answer for their action and inaction before and after the mass shooting, adding to our prolonged grief and anger,” said Mitchell Dworet.
Investigators say the gunman spent less than seven minutes inside the school’s 1200 building, firing 139 rounds and killing 14 students and three staff members. BSO has faced years of criticism over a delayed response, communication failures, and slow medical aid.
The Guttenbergs say Jaime did not have to die. She was among the last victims on the third floor. “She made it to the stairwell. One second could have saved her life,” Fred Guttenberg said. “I blame BSO for my daughter’s murder.”
His wife, Jennifer Guttenberg, added that Jaime may have survived had medics been able to reach her sooner. Because of the delayed response, an all-clear was not called quickly enough to allow first responders into the building, she said.
After the shooting, then-Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended former Sheriff Scott Israel and appointed Gregory Tony as his replacement. School resource officer Scot Peterson, who was accused of failing to confront the shooter, went to trial and was acquitted of felony child neglect.
The families have already settled multimillion-dollar civil lawsuits with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for failing to act on tips about the shooter, as well as with the Broward County Public Schools for not doing enough to protect students.
“We still have one chapter open, and it is with BSO,” said Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed.
When contacted, an attorney for the Broward Sheriff’s Office released the following statement in response to the families’ complaints:
“It is understandable that the families of the victims of this senseless tragedy are frustrated at the pace of the litigation. The grounds for the filed motions and appeals are well founded in Florida law, and are not for the purposes of delay. BSO’s filings streamline the issues raised by Plaintiffs and had BSO waited to assert these defenses and immunities at trial, the delay would be compounded.”
The families say they will continue pushing for their case to be heard in court, insisting that accountability remains unfinished business eight years after the deadliest high school shooting in Florida history.
