SWFL law enforcement study past shootings to protect students from future ones

With mass shootings on the rise across the country, law enforcement in Southwest Florida is taking steps to keep schools safe this upcoming school year.

It comes after the recent shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 kids and two teachers. Their police department is under fire for the way that the situation was handled. The gunman was left to shoot and kill for over an hour without interference.

For retired Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Pustizzi, Valentine’s Day 2018 is the day he wished law enforcement was prepared for.

“Law enforcement and schools have to work together. We, unfortunately, did not have that in Broward County,” said Pustizzi.

Pustizzi served as the chief of police when the Parkland shooter took 17 lives. He has carried all 17 of them in his heart ever since.

Now, Pustizzi travels the country telling other law enforcement agencies what they did wrong. “Look, red flags were missed in Broward. Don’t let it happen here.”

An example of a red flag missed by law enforcement in the parkland shooting was the shooter’s repeated threats of violence on social media.

While Pustizzi was talking about the lessons from Parkland on Thursday, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno was listening.

“If you’re not learning from the people that have done it, you will fail. And at what length, we don’t know. But failure is not acceptable here,” said Marceno.

WINK News asked Marceno if Lee County is ready in the event of a shooting.

“I can tell you without hesitation, we are going to meet preferably outside the school, we’re going to engage that suspect, and we’re going to kill them immediately. We’re not waiting a second. We’re not apologizing. It’s going to be quick. It’s going to be clean, and we’re going to preserve life,” Marceno said.

Preserving lives that could not be saved in Uvalde or Parkland.

“He wanted to be known. He was nobody. Now he’s somebody,” said Pustizzi of the Parkland shooter.

The retired police chief said every school, including Bishop Verot High School in south Fort Myers where Pustizzi spoke, should have an armed school resource officer, a single point of entry, panic systems with direct connections to law enforcement, and bleeding control kits in every classroom.

Pustizzi says as sad as this is, it’s our reality.