WEST PALM BEACH — An appellate court allowed the release of additional video footage of the February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but later delayed the decision.
In a July 25 ruling, Florida's Fourth District of Appeal affirmed a lower court's decision to disclose the video as public record. Yet, two days later, the appellate court granted the Broward County School Board's request to delay the release until the Florida Supreme Court weighed in on the issue.
The school board and the Broward County State Attorney's Office have attempted to block the release of outside footage from the mass shooting that killed 17 people.
The video footage in question was recorded from 70 surveillance cameras from around the school.
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The appellate court said the footage would show the response of first responders and other law enforcement during and immediately after the shooting. The unfolding narrative provided by the authorities was “confusing and has shifted and changed over time,” wrote Judge Robert Gross in the opinion.
Allowing the public to review the footage, Gross said, would allow the public to witness when the first responders arrived on campus, where they went when they arrived, as well as the actions they took after they arrived on the scene.
The media requested additional footage after it claimed that the “first order” video footage release on March 15 did not correlate with the Broward County Sheriff Office’s (BSO) timeline. The media claimed that the original footage was “incomplete, edited, and not entirely responsive,” and asked for “full disclosure,” showing the law enforcement’s response to the public could “evaluate and determine whether more could have, or should have, been done.”
The school board and the BSO opposed the additional footage’s release to the public, contending that the “extensive video footage” sought by the media revealed “much more” than the “minimal” footage originally produced. The footage in question, according to the school board, “sought captured officers’ actions after Cruz had dropped his weapon and exited the building.”
The school board also argued the video would reveal the school’s blind spots.
The state attorney argued that the video footage, including the footage of building 12 where the shooting took place, was part of “criminal investigative information” that was exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act. Further, the school board claimed that the footage “was exempt from disclosure under ... the security system plan exemption."
The media argued, however, that it did not seek video that showed victims or the interior of any school building. The meida also did not seek video that specifically identified any student or Nikolas Cruz.
The original petition to allow the shooting’s video footage was filed under the Public Records Act of the Florida Statutes by Cable News Network (CNN), the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel. An amended petition was later filed, which added at least a dozen other media outlets, including the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Fox Televisions Stations and NBC.
The media’s petition cited “extreme public interest” that dealt with the “response of law enforcement officers during the shooting and thereafter.”
The video footage in question was recorded from 70 surveillance cameras from around the school.
On July 27, the appellate court granted the school board's emergency request to block the release of the video, so the Florida Supreme Court could decide if the footage was deemed a public record.