Gov. Rick Scott has ordered eight Florida Highway Patrol troopers to beef up security at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others last month in one of the nation’s worst school shootings.
Scott’s office said Wednesday the troopers will report to the school Thursday morning. The governor offered additional law-enforcement officers Tuesday, after two Douglas High students were arrested for bringing knives to school and a third was arrested for making threats on social media. The day before, Cruz’s brother, Zachary, was arrested after he was caught skateboarding at the Parkland school despite being banned from campus.
Also this week, Broward County sheriff’s deputy Moises Carotti, the school’s resource officer, was suspended with pay after a student discovered the officer sleeping in his patrol car on Monday.
“Recent events at the school have demonstrated the need for additional security measures to be implemented,” Scott wrote Tuesday to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and county school Superintendent Robert Runcie, the Orlando Weekly reports.
