FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The parents of four students killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting are asking a Broward County circuit judge to allow a reenactment of the crime before the building where their children were killed is demolished.
A motion filed Monday by Weston attorney David Brill on behalf of the plaintiffs seeks "permission to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the purpose of conducting audio and video recordings of a reenactment that would parallel the killer's movements, and the gunfire," inside the 1200 building.
The goal is to document former school resource Deputy "Scot Peterson's movements and actions outside of the building, in order to demonstrate that Peterson could hear the gunshots and derive where they were coming from."
"Neither of the previous inspections parallel the weight and accuracy that this proposed reenactment will provide," the motion said. "Although the plaintiffs have ample evidence that Peterson heard upwards of 70 shots, and knew where they were coming from, such demonstrative evidence cannot be duplicated."
The motion was filed the same week that some family members of those killed in the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting will get to visit the site, which had been preserved for the separate trials of shooter Nikolas Cruz and Peterson, who was charged with child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.
Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison for murdering the 14 students and three faculty members at the Parkland school.
Peterson was acquitted of all charges last week, but he is being sued in civil court.
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The plaintiffs are the parents of Meadow Pollack, Luke Hoyer, Alaina Petty and Alex Schachter, along with survivor Madeline Wilford.
Brill said Hoyer's parents, Gena and Tom Hoyer, are among those family members who plan to visit the site of the crime Wednesday.
"As Gena compellingly put it: 'It's going to be agony, but I need to go where my sweet Lukey Bear took his last breath and went to heaven. I brought him into this world and as a mom, I need to be where he left it,'" Brill said in an email to CNN.
Jurors in the sentencing phase of Cruz's trial toured the building last year, as did reporters who described the scene as a morbid time capsule.
Bloodstains still smear the floor, and doors and walls are riddled with bullet holes. Windows in classroom doors are shot out. Rotted Valentine's Day flowers, deflated balloons and other gifts are strewn about. Only the bodies and personal belongings have been removed.
Brill said the reenactment would be conducted at the plaintiffs' expense and is estimated to take about two hours.
"Entry is requested on a date to be determined as mutually agreeable by counsel, preferably in the summer before school starts, or, if after school is in session, then on the weekend," the motion said.