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FL Supreme Court: Release School Shooting Surveillance Video

According to various news reports,  the Florida Supreme Court ordered the release of exterior surveillance video showing law enforcement’s response to the mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.  The Associated Press reports that the Broward County school board aimed to “block disclosure of the video as sought by media organizations…the school board contended releasing the video might reveal security blind spots at the school.” State Prosecutors were also against the video’s release because it could be evidence in the case against the accused shooter.

On February 14th, 2018, police say 19-year-old Nicholas Cruz entered the high school and began his armed rampage that would steal the lives of 17 people and injure nearly 20 more.

“We applaud the Court’s decision to release the unseen video to the public,” says trial lawyer Todd Michaels of The Haggard Law Firm.  Haggard Law represents the family of 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver and the family of coach and teacher Scott Beigel who were both were killed during the shooting, as well as teacher Stacey Lippel, who was injured. Michaels says the focus of these families is to help make a change to prevent a tragedy like this and the school shootings of the past to happen again.

Michaels adds, “The release of this video and all other information about the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th can only help in figuring out different ways to prevent this scale of tragedy from happening again. For security experts, every detail is crucial in developing plans of action and new operational procedures. The detail can even help in the selection of the best modern security equipment.”

It is unclear when the video will be released.

 

Pictured: (Left to Right)
Haggard Law Trial Lawyers Todd Michael and Michael Haggard and the parents of 17 year old Parkland shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, his father Manuel and mother Patricia Oliver.

Reaction to Las Vegas Hotel Suing Mass Shooting Victims

 

Earlier this week it was reported that the owner of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against more than 1,000 victims of a mass shooting that killed 58 people in 2017. The MGM Resorts International’s lawsuit does not seek money and appears to be a judicial bid to avoid liability and dismiss claims against it. On October 1st of last year, 64 year old.

Stephen Paddock opened fire at festival attendees before committing suicide. Paddock had set up a firing point with 23 weapons in the Mandalay Bay overlooking the Route 91 Harvest festival, also owned by MGM.

Trial lawyer Christopher Marlowe of The Haggard Law Firm, which has litigated hundreds of negligent security cases many of which were against hotels/motels,  says MGM Resorts International overwhelming failed to pick up the shooter’s behavior that day and had security issues that lead to the tragedy in the weeks and months before it occurred.

“MGM Resorts and Mandalay Bay, in addition to facilitating mass murder at the  Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, are now attempting to use the court system to bastardize federal law and revictimize the families of those injured and killed on its property” says Marlowe.

He adds that the Federal SAFETY Act does not provide blanket immunity to landowners and operators who simply write a check to a security consulting firm which happens to be certified by the Department of Homeland Security.  The premise of this lawsuit against all of these victims is that, by hiring a certified firm, MGM had no further obligations whatsoever to its guests.

Marlowe says that the introduction to this absurd lawsuit states, “[Stephen] Paddock intended to inflict mass injury, death and destruction… The post-attack investigation revealed that Paddock brought in his van, which he parked in the hotel garage, 90 pounds of explosives, consisting of 20 two-pound containers of exploding targets, 10 one-pound containers of exploding targets and 2 twenty-pound bags of explosive precursors.”

click here to review notable Haggard Law Negligent Security Cases

The Haggard Law Firm partner adds “The “Seller” of the Qualified Anti–Terrorism Technology used at the festival, Contemporary Services Corporation, was presumably not in control over the security protocols and procedures relative to guests’ stockpiling of weapons at Mandalay Bay in the days leading up to this attack.  The shooter, in addition to the explosives he collected over a prolonged period of time, had twenty-three firearms in his hotel room at the time of the massacre. ”

The overwhelming failure by Mandalay Bay and MGM to appreciate the buildup of an entire militia’s worth of weaponry in a hotel room, by itself, is an independent and direct proximate cause of what ultimately transpired.  The hotel’s effort to immunize itself from negligence spanning not hours, but rather, days, weeks or months of security neglect, cannot be pawned off under a federal statute designed to protect purveyors of security technology for mass terrorism crimes that unfold in a matter of seconds. This particular act of terrorism required the kind of neglect that brings in boardroom level failures across every spectrum of hotel management – not just a few discreet minutes during a single music festival. – Christopher Marlowe

Continue reading “Reaction to Las Vegas Hotel Suing Mass Shooting Victims”

Press Conference: Reaction to Broward Deputy Today Show Interview

Later today, we will once again be honored to stand with our client, Manuel Oliver, the father of 17 year old Parkland mass shooting victim Joaquin Oliver. Only days after the Oliver family accepted the high school graduation diploma for their late son, NBC’s Today Show aired part one of an interview with Former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson who was the school resource officer assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the day a gun killed 17 people and injured 17 more.

Today’s press conference with Mr. Oliver will be to give reaction to that NBC network television interview.  click to watch Today Show interview

Press Conference Details

What: Press Conference to respond to part one of Today Show Interview with FMR BSO Deputy Scot Peterson

When: 12 pm – Today – June 5th, 2018

Location: Beyond Group (office) 98 NW 39th Street, Miami, FL 33127

Who: Manuel Oliver and Haggard Law Trial Attorney Christopher Marlowe

Media Contact: J.P. Hervis, Brandstory Communications, 305.321.4293 Jp@brandstorycommunications.com