WASHINGTON — The Broward County sheriff’s office said it is investigating allegations that multiple deputies failed to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after the shooting rampage there.
The new questions added to growing inquiries over both the department’s response to the attack and its prior interactions with the suspected shooter.
Authorities have faced criticism about the series of unheeded warning signs that preceded the Feb. 14 massacre.
These warnings about Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged with the massacre, included multiple tips saying he could be capable of carrying out a school shooting. The FBI received such a tip in January but never investigated it.
The sheriff’s office said it received two similar warnings, but there is no evidence that either prompted any investigation.
Officials have also faced difficult questions about what happened after the shooting began inside Stoneman Douglas.
Sheriff Scott Israel had acknowledged on Thursday that an armed deputy, serving as the school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas, got to the scene of the shooting but failed to go inside, violating accepted police protocol. That deputy, Scot Peterson, a three-decade veteran of the Broward sheriff’s office, resigned after being suspended.
The office has said it is investigating how the agency responded to the gunfire that killed 17 students and faculty.
Among the topics being probed, according to Israel, are allegations made by officers from another department that they saw other Broward sheriff’s deputies — not just Peterson — still waiting outside as the shooting occurred.
The sheriff told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday that his office is investigating the allegations and if they find ‘‘that our deputies made mistakes and didn’t go in, I’ll handle it like I always have.’’ His office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to a CNN report, Coral Springs police officers who arrived at Stoneman Douglas said that in addition to Peterson, they found at least three other sheriff’s deputies still outside the building.
The Coral Springs police released a statement saying it was ‘‘aware of media reports’’ but was not going to make statements ‘‘regarding these allegations as it is still an open and active investigation being handled by the Broward sheriff’s office.’’
‘‘Our police department has continued to work alongside the Broward sheriff’s office to assist in any investigation pertaining to this incident,’’ Coral Springs police said in the statement.
Tony Pustizzi, the Coral Springs police chief, did not respond to a message seeking comment on Saturday. He said last week that his department, which is headquartered just miles down the road from Stoneman Douglas and polices a city where many of the school’s students live, will also review its response to the shooting.
Officials have said they are reviewing how they handled earlier warnings about Cruz, including the fumbled FBI tip. The FBI has acknowledged that it made mistakes in handling the warning and said the bureau was investigating both what happened and how it handles tips from the public.
The sheriff’s office said last week that among the 23 calls it received relating to Cruz or his family over the last decade were two with warnings that the teenager could potentially open fire at a school. Both calls have since prompted internal affairs probes, the sheriff’s office said.
