The father of a 14-year-old gunned down in last week's Florida massacre said Thursday that more "badass police officers" were needed in schools after reports that the armed Parkland security staffer remained outside during the attack.
"Maybe a campus of that size shouldn't just have one armed resource officer — not teachers, but security, who is a trained police officer — but should have more than one," Fred Guttenberg told Jim Sciutto on CNN.
Guttenberg's daughter, Jamie, a freshman, was shot to death in the assault by Nikolas Cruz, 19, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"It shouldn't be somebody who has already kind of gone through their best police years, but maybe it should be the badass police officers who are going to take action and run in and not worry about the consequences to their public safety to save lives," Guttenberg said.
"I apologize for my language," he then told Sciutto. "I just can't help it."
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday that Scot Peterson, the armed school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas, did not go inside to confront Cruz during the attack that killed 17 people and injured 14 others.
Peterson was suspended without pay and placed under investigation, then chose to resign, Israel told a news conference. The attack lasted six minutes.
"He never went in," the sheriff said.
On Wednesday, an angry Guttenberg openly challenged Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio at a CNN Town Hall in Sunrise, saying that his response to the assault was "pathetically weak" and bringing cheers from the audience.
Rubio said during the exchange that he would support laws to raise the age for buying assault-style weapons from 18 to 21.
The senator added that he was "reconsidering" his position on high-capacity clip magazines used in such attacks.
Guttenberg, a real estate agent in Parkland, told Sciutto Thursday that while much discussion has taken place since the Valentine's Day shooting, "we hear no discussion on anything productive.
"The reality is we have a public-safety issue, but certainly school-safety issue.
"Everybody kind of runs to their bunkers on positions," he added. "I don't have I have a position.
"I'm a dad — and I want my kids to go to school be and safe."
Guttenberg said that his 17-year-old son would return to Stoneman Tuesday when the school reopens.
"I'm going to send him back, because my family, we're strong," he told Sciutto. "I insist that you face it.
"But I'm scared to death."
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