Sheriff on Parkland: I can train but can't give out courage

A sheriff suspended by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the response to the Parkland school shooting testified Wednesday that he properly trained a deputy now criminally charged in the case, but he wasn't able to give him courage.

Suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is fighting to keep his job after being removed three days after DeSantis took office last January. DeSantis accused Israel of incompetence and neglect of duty and failing to properly train his department for an active shooter situation. Seventeen people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.

The case against Israel is built largely on the failure of Deputy Scot Peterson, who remained outside the school instead of entering the building as a gunman fired about 140 bullets. DeSantis' lawyer, Nicholas Primrose, focused much of his questioning on Peterson's training and Israel's decision to change the wording of a deputy's responsibilities during an active shooter situation from "shall" enter a building to "may" enter a building.

"You give them the training," Israel said. "You provide them with the polices and the procedures, but no matter what the governor's attorney says at any time, if they think that I can provide any woman or man on this Earth with courage and the desire to go inside when their conscious is telling them, 'I'm not going in there.' There's no sheriff, there's no police leader, there's no football coach or there's no general that's going to get someone to go in when the human element takes over and they say to themselves, 'I'm not going in.'"

DeSantis doesn't have the final say in whether Israel will be permanently removed from office. Israel was testifying before a "special master" appointed by Republican Senate President Bill Galvano to gather facts and make a recommendation on whether Israel should be removed from office or reinstated. The full Senate will eventually vote on Israel's fate. Israel was first elected in 2012 and reelected in 2016. He plans to run for the position again next year regardless of the outcome of the Senate proceedings.

The governor's lawyers didn't call any witnesses to back the assertion that Israel showed incompetence and negligence, instead relying on documents such as a report prepared by a commission appointed to study the shooting, a first draft report gathering information on a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and transcripts of television interviews with Peterson and Israel.

But a lawyer for Israel pointed out that the document charging Peterson with nine criminal counts for failing to take action during the shooting states that Peterson was highly trained but failed to act on his training. The document was based on an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is overseen by DeSantis and the independently elected Cabinet.

Israel also defended his decision to change the language in the department's active shooter policy, saying officers are trained to assess a situation before entering a building.

"The purpose of the policy is to give the officer discretion not to go into a suicide mission. If your child was inside a school, you'd want an officer to go in, but you want him to go in alive to do what he was trained to do, and that's to eliminate the threat to the students," Israel said when he was questioned by his lawyer, Benedict Kuehne.

Later, when being questioned by Primrose, Israel added, "I've been a police officer 40 years and I don't know that there's a day in my life that I haven't been around police officers, and I've never met one — not one — to make a decision to go in or not go in based on 'may' or 'shall.' Police officers will make a decision based on courage — nothing more, nothing less."

JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.

The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.

Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.

Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.

Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.

The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)