WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump said Friday that the Florida sheriff's deputy who failed to intervene in last week's school shooting may have been a "coward," a strong rebuke from a president toward a local law officer.
"He trained his whole life," Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Scot Peterson, who resigned after Broward County authorities determined he'd stood outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for four minutes during the shooting that left 17 people dead.
"When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn't have the courage or something happened," Trump added. "But he certainly did a poor job. There's no question about that."
Trump was responding to questions about his school-safety proposal to arm some teachers, as reporters noted that Peterson was on campus and armed yet failed to stop the carnage.
"But that's a case where somebody was outside, they're trained, they didn't act properly or under pressure or they were a coward," Trump said. "It was a real shock to the police department."
