FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A six-member jury found a former Broward County sheriff's deputy not guilty of felony child neglect in connection with the shooting deaths of several people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018. 

Scot Peterson cried openly as the not-guilty verdicts were read out Thursday by the judge.

Peterson, the school’s on-campus deputy at the time, was charged in connection with the deaths and injuries on the third floor of the school during the shooting. He is not charged in the deaths of 11 people killed on the first floor before he reached the building.

It is the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer has been tried in connection with a school shooting.

The jury had to decide whether Peterson was a caregiver to the juvenile students who died and were wounded on the third floor — a legal requirement for him to be convicted of child neglect. Florida law defines a caregiver as “a parent, adult household member or other person responsible for a child’s welfare.” Caregivers are guilty of felony neglect if they fail to make a “reasonable effort” to protect children or don’t provide necessary care.

The jury started deliberations on Monday.

Peterson could have located and stopped Cruz as he carried out his attack inside the three-story 1200 building at the school, prosecutor Kristen Gomes told the jury. But instead of opening a door, looking in a window or seeking information from fleeing students, he chose to take shelter next to an adjoining building, she said. 

But Peterson’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, argued that Peterson is being made a “sacrificial lamb” for failures during the shooting by elected officials and administrators. He said the evidence proves Peterson’s insistence that the gunshots’ echoes prevented him from pinpointing Cruz’s location is the truth and Peterson did everything he could under the circumstances.

Prosecutors, during their two-week presentation, called to the witness stand students, teachers and law enforcement officers who testified about the horror they experienced and how they knew where Cruz was. Some said they knew for certain the shots were coming from the 1200 building. Prosecutors also called a training supervisor who testified Peterson did not follow protocols for confronting an active shooter.

Eiglarsh, during his two-day presentation, called several deputies who arrived during the shooting and students and teachers who testified they did not think the shots were coming from the 1200 building. Peterson did not testify.

Peterson faced nearly 100 years in prison and could have lost his $104,000 annual pension if convicted on all charges.

“I got my life back. We’ve got our life back,” Peterson said as he exited the courtroom, his arm around his wife, Lydia Rodriguez, and his lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster for so long. Calling Mark at 1 in the morning.”

He also said people should never forget the victims.

“Only one person was to blame and it was that monster (Nikolas Cruz),” Peterson said. “It wasn’t any of the law enforcement who was on that scene. ... Everybody did the best they could with the information we had.”

Peterson said he hopes to to one day sit down with the Parkland parents and spouses to tell them “the truth,” that he did everything he could.

“I would love to talk to them. I have no problem,” he said. “I’m there.”

But two fathers who watched the verdict, Tony Montalto and Tom Hoyer, had no interest in meeting with Peterson. Montalto’s 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed on the first floor; Hoyer’s 15-year-old son Luke died next to her. Peterson was not charged in connection with their deaths because they happened before he reached the building. The men believe Peterson knew Cruz’s location, but put his safety ahead of the students’ and staff’s.

“No. No. Bring me my daughter back,” Montalto said about meeting with Peterson. “We’ll all trade anything to get our kids back. The spouses, they who lost someone, they want them back, too. And if that’s not going to happen, why do we need to talk to this failure? He didn’t do the right thing. He ran away.”

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who was the governor of Florida at the time of the shooting, was critical of the verdict.

"Nothing can reverse the evil of that day, but no justice was delivered by this absurd acquittal," he wrote on Twitter.