--- title: Donald Trump Knocks Florida School Shooting Cop Before CPAC description: President Donald Trump criticized the Broward sheriff's deputy who failed to confront the suspected gunman in the Florida school shooting canonical: https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-23T15:13:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:24:57.538Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Knocks Sheriff's Deputy Who Stayed Outside School Shooting as a 'Coward' og:description: "He certainly did a poor job" og:url: https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24a78ef2bd86f12f/698928aee76ad2662f631287/trump-school-shooting-gun-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: President Trump Departs The White House To Speak At The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Knocks Sheriff's Deputy Who Stayed Outside School Shooting as a 'Coward' twitter:description: "He certainly did a poor job" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24a78ef2bd86f12f/698928aee76ad2662f631287/trump-school-shooting-gun-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Knocks Sheriff's Deputy Who Stayed Outside Florida School Shooting as a 'Coward' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 23, 2018 3:13 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, on Feb. 23, 2018. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, on Feb. 23, 2018. Zach Gibson—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 23, 2018 3:13 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Friday criticized [the Broward sheriff’s deputy who failed to confront the suspected gunman](http://time.com/5171755/broward-sheriff-deputy-resigns-video-parkland-florida-school-shooting/?iid=sr-link1) in [this month’s deadly Florida school shooting](http://time.com/5162936/florida-high-school-shooting-timeline/), saying he “certainly did a poor job” and might be “a coward.” “When it came time to get in there to do something, he didn’t have the courage or something happened,” Trump told reporters Friday morning. “He certainly did a poor job, there’s no question about that.” “That’s a case where somebody who is outside, they’re trained, they didn’t react properly under pressure, or they were a coward,” Trump added. Scot Peterson, a school resource officer from the Broward County Sheriff’s office, resigned Thursday after the sheriff said Peterson had waited outside the school building without ever going inside and attempting to take down the active shooter. The sheriff said Peterson “clearly” knew a shooter was in the building, but stayed outside for four minutes while the massacre took place. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/967045001057316866) [Nikolas Cruz](http://time.com/5159134/who-is-the-florida-shooter-parkland-nicolas-cruz/?xid=homepage), 19, allegedly opened fire in [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School](http://time.com/5158804/marjory-stoneman-douglas-high-school-shooting/) and killed 17 people, in a shooting that has reignited America’s gun control debate. Trump’s remarks came shortly before he is set to appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. In the wake of the shooting, Trump has suggested [training and arming teachers](http://time.com/5170963/donald-trump-gun-training-bonuses/) and other school officials, a message that echoes a long-standing push by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and one he is expected to reiterate during his CPAC speech. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/"},"headline":"Trump Knocks Sheriff's Deputy Who Stayed Outside Florida School Shooting as a 'Coward'","datePublished":"2018-02-23T15:13:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:24:57.538Z","description":"\"He certainly did a poor job\"","url":"https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24a78ef2bd86f12f/698928aee76ad2662f631287/trump-school-shooting-gun-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24a78ef2bd86f12f/698928aee76ad2662f631287/trump-school-shooting-gun-control.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Departs The White House To Speak At The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)","caption":"President Trump Departs The White House To Speak At The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5172579/donald-trump-florida-school-shooting-deputy/","name":"Trump Knocks Sheriff's Deputy Who Stayed Outside Florida School Shooting as a 'Coward'"}}]}] ```