Jury selection begins for Parkland school resource officer

PARKLAND, Fla. (CBS12) — Jury selection is underway for the former school resource officer, Scot Peterson, who stayed outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while a gunman opened fire killing 17 people.

The trial is said to be the first of its kind, putting into focus police conduct and Peterson's inactions on the day of the school shooting.

On Wednesday, dozens of potential jurors were questioned to see who could partake in the trial that is expected to take two months.

"I need 10 jurors for this trial so out of the 800 people we are gonna get down to 10," said Judge Martin S. Fein.

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The final panel will be made up of six jurors with four alternates.

Peterson is charged with several charges including seven counts of felony child neglect.

The school resource officer was the first armed officer to respond to the building on the day of the Parkland massacre arriving before the gunman made it to the upper floors but the 60-year-old never entered the building while the shooting was taking place.

"What goes through my head is if he had gone into the building or told other officers to come into the building... and they would have come in and administered medical attention to Alex and the others on the first floor maybe they would have survived," said Alex Schachter, whose son was killed during the shooting.

Jury selection will continue on Thursday, there are a number of reasons a potential juror can be exempt from serving on this trial, including, anyone with preplanned travel, preplanned medical appointments, full-time in-person students, primary caregiver for a child or elderly person, and those who are self-employed.