News
US School Guard Not Guilty Of Failing To Stop Mass Shooting
A guard who allegedly hid while a mass shooter killed 17 at a Florida high school in 2018 was found not guilty Thursday of charges of neglect and negligence.
In an emotionally charged trial, a jury found no fault with the actions of former sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson, 60, during the shooting at the school in the suburban city of Parkland.
On February 14, 2018, then-19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz walked into the school carrying a semiautomatic rifle and shot dead 14 students and three staff members.
Cruz, who was able to buy his powerful weapon despite having known mental health issues, wounded another 17 people.
Peterson, a guard at the school, was accused of failing to enter the school building to pursue Cruz even though he was armed and had received training in confronting an active shooter.
Peterson, believed the first law enforcement officer in the country charged for failing to take action during a school shooting, was indicted for multiple counts of felony child neglect, and culpable negligence and one count of perjury.
The jury on Monday ruled him not guilty on all counts. Peterson broke down in tears when the verdict was announced.
“I got my life back” after the four-year court saga, he said outside the court.
His attorney Mark Eiglarsh said it was “not just a victory for Scot, but a victory for all law enforcement officers.”
‘Coward’ or ‘scapegoat’?
The Parkland shooting stunned the nation and reignited debate on gun control and how to protect schools from armed attacks.
Families of the dead and injured placed some of the blame for the extent of the deaths and injuries on Peterson.
During the trial, prosecutor Steven Klinger said Peterson, who had been in law enforcement for 32 years and a school resource officer, or security guard, at the school since 2009, had been trained to deal with such attacks.
Klinger said Peterson took shelter in an alcove outside the school building and remained there for 48 minutes, well after the shooting ended.
“In an active shooter situation, you go for the gunshots. You’re trained to go for those shots, to find that shooter, because every shot could be a death,” Klinger said.
Eiglarsh countered that his client was made a scapegoat, and denied that he was a “coward.”
Peterson could not tell where the gunshots were coming from on the sprawling Parkland campus and “did everything that you possibly could with the limited information that he had,” Eiglarsh contended.
Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin was killed at Parkland, expressed anger after the verdict at the reactions by Peterson and Eiglarsh after the verdict was announced.
“Tell me about that pain,” he said.
Peterson “obviously made a mistake and needs to be accountable,” he said.
“The honest thing to do is to walk out of that room quiet,” he added.
AFP
As the world celebrate this year’s World Environment Day today,the Ogun State Waste Management Authority OGWAMA as urged residents of the States to keep their environment clean and stop indiscriminate dumping of waste in public places and imbibe proper waste disposal.
Special Adviser to the Governor and Managing Director of the Ogun State Management Authority OGWAMA, Honorable Farouk Akintunde stated this in a statement to mark the 2026 World Environment Day.
He said indiscriminate dumping of waste in public and unauthorized places breeds untidy, unhealthy environment which are inimical to public safety and retard economic growth of the society.
Akintunde also advised them to imbibe proper waste disposal by patronizing Waste PSP assigned to their immediate community for proper waste disposal for just a token instead of them to use the cover of the night to dump them in discriminately on the median,roadsides and public places which he says deface the aesthetic beauty of the State.
“Ogun state residents are known as clean and fun-loving people.We should not allow few of us to dent our pride through their untoward attitudes and behaviors,so when we see them dumping indiscriminately in our environment we should say something”
“We will on our part continue to do our best in terms of proper waste management through sensitization and advocacy as we urge all residents to containerize their waste for easy collection by government accredited PSP”
”For industries domiciled in the state, let me remind them of the need to allow government accredited PSP assigned to them to perform their statutory duties instead of patronizing illegal PSP which will attract sanction when they are caught by our enforcement team as OGWAMA will not allow them to turn the state to dumpsites for illegal industrial waste some of which are not environmentally friendly” Akintunde added.
He did not forget to remind all residents of the State that Ogun State Waste Management Authority will step-up it enforcement activities in all nooks and crannies of the state to maintain a clean,safe and healthy environment .
June 5th, Transfermarkt updated. The new market values of Barcelona players. Three players increased and nine decreased, with Raphinha dropping by 10 million to 70 million euros.
Increase (Euros)
Joan-Garcia increased by 5 million to 45 million
Eric-Garcia increased by 5 million to 40 million
Gerard-Martin increased by 10 million to 35 million
Decrease (Euros)
Raphinha decreased by 10 million to 70 million
Kounde decreased by 5 million to 60 million
Balde decreased by 5 million to 50 million
De Jong decreased by 10 million to 35 million
Casado decreased by 2 million to 18 million
Christensen decreased by 1 million to 8 million
Cancelo decreased by 1 million to 8 million
Lewandowski decreased by 1 million to 7 million
Szczesny decreased by 100,000 to 800,000
Unchanged (Euros)
Yamal 200 million
Pedri 150 million
Fermin 100 million
Cubarsi 80 million
Olmo 60 million
Ferran Torres 50 million
Rashford 40 million
Gavi 30 million
Bernal 30 million
Araujo 20 million
Bardghji 15 million
Singer Niniola Apata has opened up about her late husband, Michael Ndika, and the central role he played in her music career and personal life.
Speaking in a video at a gathering held in his honour, Niniola recounted how their relationship shaped her growth as an artist and as a person.
Ndika, CEO of African music platform NaijaReview, died on May 19, 2026 at 44.
She said he was her strongest supporter from day one even when she considered stepping away from music, he pushed her to continue.
According to her, Ndika believed in her talent and vowed to make her a star.
Niniola described their bond as inseparable, stressing how he was part of her daily routine and her main source of emotional support. Since his death, she said, her life has changed completely.
She thanked his family for embracing her and admitted that coping with the loss has been hard.
Reflecting on their marriage, she called it a love story.
She said Ndika gave her everything and lived for her and while she was the face and voice of her brand, he was the engine behind it.
She said: “My story with Michael is a love story. Michael did everything for me. Everything was for me, he was breathing for me. He loved me, I loved him so much. And I learned so much from Michael. But Michael met me raw, and he said, I’ll make you a superstar.’ And he did. I was just the face and the voice, but Michael was the engine.
“Even when I decided to, you know, give music a break, he didn’t let it. The first person I saw in the morning was Michael. And the last person who closed my eyes at night was Michael. So now what do I do? Tell me, what do I do? Michael was the best thing, the best person that ever happened to me.”
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