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Your Florida Daily: Deputy claims he had no legal duty to stop Parkland shooter, Orlando to launch Pulse memorial fund

And where the world’s largest occupied bat houses are

Andrew Pollack, right, and Gena and Tom Hoyer attend a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Hoyer's son, Luke, and Pollack's daughter, Meadow, were killed in the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) (Amy Beth Bennett, © South Florida Sun Sentinel 2023)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The former school resource officer who failed to confront the Parkland school shooter says he had no legal duty to stop Nicolas Cruz.

Former Broward school resource officer Scot Peterson was cleared of criminal charges over the summer.

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But a civil lawsuit filed by more than a dozen survivors and family members of victims killed at Parkland want a jury to prove that Peterson failed to save lives during the shooting.

Peterson’s defense lawyers are trying to get the civil case dismissed.

Another lawsuit against two campus monitors and the sheriff’s office is still pending.

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The OnePulse foundation says the City of Orlando will soon be launching a new memorial fund.

The message was part of the organization’s final e-mail, after announcing it would be dissolving.

The foundation failed to get out of the planning stage for a memorial and museum to honor the 49 people killed during the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre.

The city’s next step is to create Orlando United Pulse Memorial Fund and ensure the foundation’s two big events -- the CommUNITY Rainbow Run and the annual remembrance ceremony on June 16 -- happen in 2024.

Harry Styles wax figure at Madame Tussauds Orlando (Madame Tussauds Orlando)

Orlando’s Icon Park has just unveiled an early Christmas present for a bunch of Harry Styles fans.

The Madame Tussauds museum debuted its new addition yesterday.

According to Madame Tussauds, this is one of six Harry Styles wax figures around the world. This wax-figure look is based on the singer’s 2023 Grammy awards look where he won “best pop vocal album” and “album of the year.”

He’s the first male British singer to win the top album prize in more than 20 years.

Random Florida Fact

The world’s largest occupied bat houses are located on the campus of the University of Florida.

The original colony of 5,000 bats was discovered after a fire destroyed Johnson Hall in 1987.

They then took up residence at several spots around Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and it wasn’t until Gov. Bob Martinez complained of the smell during a football game that university officials decided to build a large bat house.

Over the years, the bats were relocated to the new houses, which now host a population of 300,000 bats -- which experts estimate consumes more than two tons of insects a night.


About the Author
Katrina Scales headshot

Katrina Scales is a producer for the News 6+ Takeover at 3:30 p.m. She also writes and voices the podcast Your Florida Daily. Katrina was born and raised in Brevard County and started her journalism career in radio before joining News 6 in June 2021.

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