Parkland shooting reenactment will be done with live ammunition

PARKLAND, Fla. (WPEC) — A Florida judge ruled on Thursday to allow a Parkland school-shooting reenactment in a civil lawsuit against former school resource officer Scot Peterson.

The judge also allowed the reenactment to use live ammunition instead of blanks.

After a not guilty verdict for Peterson’s involvement or lack thereof in the criminal trial, some families of the Parkland victims say the reenactment of the shooting will help the jury understand what happened.

We’re also suing the sheriff’s department and Mr. Peterson because we feel they breached their duty of care for the children at Parkland,” said attorney Jeffrey Tew.

The plaintiffs – some families and a survivor – want to record a reenactment of the shooting to show if the former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy would have heard the shots and known where they were coming from.

“The reenactment is going to show them by video what happened, step by step,” said Tew, the attorney for the parents of 16-year-old victim Carmen Schentrup.

Tew said the jury needs to understand the final moments of the 17 people who died in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

It will also have the sound of the gunshots and the judge permitted us to use live ammunition so that the sound would be authentic,” said Tew.

To understand how loud the shots would be during the reenactment, WPEC's Victoria De Cardenas visited a gun range in West Palm Beach. With the help of a professional, the instructor fired an AR-15 rifle, similar to what gunman Nikolas Cruz used.

“It depends on your surroundings so if you’re in a small space and you hear more because of the echoing from the walls. And if you’re in a bigger space, your perception of the sound is significantly less,” said Alex Shkop, owner of Gun and Range Training Center in West Palm Beach.

“The reenactment will hopefully give the jury a good idea of how to evaluate the evidence,” said Tew, who believes this civil lawsuit could be an easy win but said he understands it won’t fill the void for the parents who have lost a child.

“Whether or not there will be full closure, I have a son that died, I don’t think you ever close that you just learn to live with it,” said Tew.

Families of the victims are allowed to watch the reenactment, but that will be done from a video feed at a different location from the school building.

The reenactment is set for Aug. 4.