• Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is facing a firestorm of criticism over the way his deputies handled the Florida shooting and warning signs about the alleged gunman.
• Florida state officials have announced they will investigate the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s response to the shooting.
• Dozens of Republican state lawmakers signed a letter demanding Israel’s suspension for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty [or] incompetence.”
• Israel has responded with defiance, describing his leadership as “amazing” and dismissing calls to resign.

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The sheriff who steered the community of Parkland, Florida, through a high-school shooting earlier this month now faces mounting calls to resign or be removed as details surface about his office’s handling of the massacre.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is under fire for a number of perceived missteps his department made both during the shooting and over the last decade’s worth of interactions with the alleged gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.

The first major blow came last Thursday, when Israel announced one of his deputies failed to confront Cruz during the rampage.

The deputy, Scot Peterson, was an armed school resource officer stationed on campus when the gunfire broke out. Israel said Peterson stood outside the building and did “nothing” as the gunman mowed down 17 students and staff members, firing nearly 150 shots in seven minutes.

“I am devastated,” Israel said. “Sick to my stomach. He never went in.”

Peterson quickly resigned, but Israel’s crisis only escalated from there. Reports emerged late last week that three other Broward County deputies arrived at the scene and similarly declined to enter the building.

Instead, it was officers from the nearby Coral Springs Police Department who first entered, reacting with shock and dismay when none of the Broward County deputies joined them, CNN reported.

Israel told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that his department was still investigating the Coral Springs officers’ claims, but hadn’t yet drawn conclusions.

“At this point, we have no reason to believe that any one acted incorrectly or correctly,” he said.

But long before the shooting, Broward County deputies had visited Cruz’s home at least 23 times since 2008, though some reports indicate it was as many as 45.

In an official statement on Saturday, the sheriff’s office said, “STOP REPORTING 39; IT’S SIMPLY NOT TRUE.”

But records of the 911 calls show that police responded to a variety of reports where Cruz had become violent, run away from home, harmed himself, or threatened to shoot up a school.

And none of the home visits resulted in an arrest or an involuntary commitment to a mental health facility, which would have prevented Cruz from buying or possessing a gun.

Israel said his office is investigating two of those 911 calls, but that the others were handled appropriately.

On CNN Sunday, a defiant Israel defended his leadership as “amazing” and blamed criticisms of his department on the lone deputy who failed to confront Cruz.

But his reassurances largely fell on deaf ears.

Shortly after the interview, Florida Gov. Rick Scott directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the Broward County sheriff’s office’s response to the shooting, and 74 Republican state lawmakers signed a letter calling for Israel’s suspension for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty [or] incompetence.”

“The failures of Sheriff Israel and his deputies during and after the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, and their failures to intervene regarding Nikolas Jacob Cruz in the years, months, and days leading up to that shooting, are unacceptable and unforgivable,” the letter read. “As a result of Sheriff Israel’s failures, students and teachers died.”

Israel was also the sheriff in charge when his department responded to the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport in January 2017. A report from his office concluded that confusion, miscommunication, and missteps let to mass chaos at the scene, where 12,000 people were when a gunman shot 13 people, killing five.

Other controversies include Israel allegedly failing to report that a campaign donor paid for a yacht cruise after his election in 2012, and hiring childhood friends, according to the Miami Herald.

Israel has said his office will cooperate with the Florida state investigation, and dismissed calls for him to step down.

“Of course I won’t resign,” he said on CNN Sunday.

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