Florida House wants to see how local government agencies responded before, during and after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Florida House is looking to seize records to see how local government agencies responded before, during and after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this month.
The House issued subpoenas Wednesday to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Broward County School Board, Broward County government, Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office and city of Coral Springs.
The subpoenas come three days after Gov. Rick Scott directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate how law enforcement responded to the Parkland shooting.
MORE: Coverage of the 2018 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School
Records from the agencies are due by Tuesday. The legislative session ends March 9.
Several House Republicans, including Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, have been highly critical of how agencies interacted with Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people at the school.
Broward County deputies received at least 18 calls warning them about Nikolas Cruz from 2008 to 2017. None of those warnings led to intervention from the department.
In a letter sent to Scott Sunday, several House Republicans asked the governor to suspend Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for incompetence.
The department currently is investigating a claim from the Coral Springs Police Department that several deputies stayed outside the school during the response to the mass shooting instead of immediately going inside to confront the shooter.
A former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy, the school’s resource officer, also stood outside for several minutes instead of going inside the building to confront the shooter. He resigned after criticism from Israel.
Some House Democrats wanted to expand the subpoena to the state’s Department of Children and Families. The department evaluated Cruz in late 2016.
House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee Chairman Larry Metz said the Legislature also will look at any interaction between Cruz’s family and DCF through normal legislative oversight of the department.
