Paramedics were barred by Sheriff’s Office from entering Parkland high school after shooting: report

Teams of specialized paramedics and police officers were repeatedly prevented from entering Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after February’s mass shooting, according to The Miami Herald.

The paper reported Friday that paramedics from Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department were blocked six times by the scene’s commanding officer, Jan Jordan, from assisting injured and dying students before the scene was declared safe.

SWAT medics entered the building instead, which officials said was out of concern for paramedics’ safety.

However, Jordan reportedly issued one refusal after the suspected shooter had been arrested off campus.

{mosads}

The Herald’s report reveals the disorder faced by emergency response teams in the minutes following the initial response to the shooting. According to the report, some officers were unknowingly relying on security footage that was running on a 20-minute delay, causing them to believe the shooter was still inside the school long after he had fled the premises.

“I’m not saying the [Rescue Task Forces] would have made a difference, and I’m not saying they wouldn’t have made a difference, but it would have been more medics and more hands helping out,” Coral Springs Fire Chief Frank Babinec told the Herald.

Michael McNally, the deputy fire chief for Coral Springs who made the repeated requests to enter the building, told the Herald that inefficiency and chaos in the Broward County chain of command led to problems with the office’s response to the shooting.

“The command post was inundated with too many people and made it impossible to establish and function,” McNally said.

McNally documented the repeated requests in an incident report filed after the Feb. 14 shooting. As of Thursday, at least three other fire-rescue incident reports confirmed McNally’s requests had been denied.

“Later, it was determined that the [Rescue Task Forces] element may not have aided in any additional care to patients,” McNally wrote in the report. “However, this information was not known at the time of the requests.”

Seventeen students and faculty members were killed in the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and more than a dozen others were injured.

Survivors of the shooting renewed a push for gun control legislation, launching a massive nationwide protest against gun violence in March.