Two SWAT officers responded to the Parkland rampage uninvited and they’ve been punished

I wasn't following this rabbit-hole as a few members here, and I do not know if this went public yet, so forgive me if it's old news.

As word spread that an armed attacker was shooting up a Parkland high school, two members of the Miramar Police Department’s SWAT team responded to the scene.

They had been training in nearby Coral Springs earlier that day and wanted to help end a deadly mass shooting that claimed 17 lives.

But their own commander said he didn’t know they were going. And the Broward Sheriff’s Office — worried about over-crowding a chaotic scene with law enforcement officers — didn’t ask for them to show up. BSO already had its own SWAT team in motion.

Eight days after the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the two Miramar officers, Det. Jeffery Gilbert and Det. Carl Schlosser, were temporarily suspended from duty with the SWAT team. They remain on active duty with the department, according to a Miramar police spokeswoman.

How convenient there were these two heroes "training" near the area. I wonder why they didn't stopped the rampage...

Trying to find more information about what kind of training they were doing. As if the disaster drill in the school the very same day wasn't weird enough.

“Effective immediately you have been suspended from the SWAT Team until further notice,” wrote Capt. Kevin Nosowicz, the unit’s commander, in a Feb. 22 memo obtained by the Miami Herald through a public records request. “Please make arrangements with the training department to turn in your SWAT-issued rifle.”

The human urge to aid in a disaster is strong. But it can also run counter to police training. Too much response to a mass casualty situation can create confusion and hinder responders, as recent mass shootings have shown, according to Pat Franklin, a retired Miami Beach police detective.

“This is not their area, this is not their jurisdiction,” said Franklin, who consults with law enforcement agencies on internal affairs investigations. “You don’t want to let those guys loose into something that’s chaotic where they might take inappropriate action. It is prudent to have them stand down unless there is a plan.”

The memo told Gilbert and Schlosser that they acted “without the knowledge or authorization from your chain of command” and created an “officer safety situation due to dispatch not knowing your location or activity.”

Reached on their cellphones, Schlosser and Gilbert said they could not comment.

Tania Rues, a public information officer for Miramar police, said her department did dispatch several uniformed officers and a victim advocate to “assist” BSO deputies at Stoneman Douglas. But she said BSO did not need Miramar’s SWAT team on the scene.

“Miramar Police command staff placed our SWAT team on stand-by pending a request for additional assistance from BSO,” Rues wrote in an email. “[BSO] did not make a request for Miramar’s SWAT team based on their need at the time.”

BSO confirmed Wednesday that Miramar SWAT was “not needed” at the scene as members of BSO’s SWAT team, as well as SWAT personnel from at least 10 other agencies, had responded.

Miami Herald

The SWAT officers who responded were Detective Jeffrey Gilbert and Detective Carl Schlosser. One of them told supervisors he was in the Coral Springs area when the gunfire happened; it’s not known where the other drove from, police spokeswoman Tania Rues said.

“They were both close by [the high school],” Rues said.

This is weird. I get it, they saw a threat and the instinct was to just go there.

But come on, don't you call your superior? Request for help? SWAT officers are very well trained for situations like this...

A third SWAT member, Officer Kevin Gonzalez, was accused of being linked to several social media posts that put the city and police in a negative light, and was suspended for violating the department’s social media policy and the code of conduct, Rues said.

She said she “could not comment further on where he may have posted information about the mass shooting or what was written.”

Haven't heard about this either... Should be interesting to find what he said about it.

more info

a reply to: vinifalou

I have been trying to keep myself updated on this story, and this is news to me... and I find it interesting for a couple reasons.

When the Sheriff threw the School Resource Officer under the bus -- singling him out to name and shame publicly -- myself and others gave him the benefit of the doubt, citing much the same reasons as this article for faulting these SWAT officers for doing exactly what others faulted the SRO for NOT doing. Essentially, we said there could be extenuating circumstances and good reason for the SRO to not rush in. I understand about departmental jurisdiction and chain of command and its importance. But it still strikes me as... something... that these officers are being punished for doing what the deputy was punished for NOT doing.

I also find it curious for the simple reason that one would think any and all hands on deck would be welcomed -- especially as at some point they knew the perp had fled the building and the campus and a community search was now necessary. My spidey senses tell me that they were suspended because they saw something and said something... or were going to say something... or someone was just afraid they would say something...

How convenient there were these two heroes "training" near the area. I wonder why they didn't stopped the rampage...

What exactly are you implying here? The snark gets in the way of your point. Maybe they didn't even get there until after the shooter had fled. Maybe they never even got on campus. We certainly don't know.

a reply to: Boadicea

I'm just implying it's all a coincidence...

The drill at the school, the SWAT members training near by, and the list goes on.

Can't find any more information about what happened after they went to the location, seems like it's all classified by now.

a reply to: vinifalou

How convenient there were these two heroes "training" near the area.

You realize that Miramar and Parkland are in the same county, right? Literally all the training that Miramar SWAT would do would be "near the area" of Parkland.

a reply to: Boadicea

I also find it curious for the simple reason that one would think any and all hands on deck would be welcomed

When not all of those "all hands on deck" have told people they're going in to assist, it's not welcome. The idea is "controlled chaos." Having random units showing up from other agencies, especially when their own agency has no clue they're even there to begin with, takes away from the "controlled" part of things.

Sure, they can get put to work and they can help, but agencies tend to take a pretty dim view of their officers going off the grid. Especially in a case like this, where Miramar SWAT was put on standby and they've got two officers that they can't find.

Good initiative, poor execution.

2 weapons specialists just turn up unannounced and unaccounted for?

Well, that's suspicious. Especially given all the confusion over multiple shooters.

Say, y'all remember when all those people were shot in that club?

And then we heard that there was an Israeli Special Forces Commando sneaking about?

And then we suddenly didn't hear about that anymore?

a reply to: vinifalou

Was one of them driving a white pickup truck?

youtu.be...

originally posted by: AgarthaSeed
a reply to: vinifalou

Was one of them driving a white pickup truck?

Thanks for that!

They most likely knew that if they said they were going to respond they would be told to stand down.

Or possibly even suspected this could be how to find out what's really going on with these shootings(by not announcing they were going there).

This is what happens to good people who aren't pushing the Democrats agenda of getting kids killed so they can justifiably go after guns.

Pathetic.

a reply to: Shamrock6

No, I didn't, guess it's not much of a coincidence then...

Just wondering why they haven't called anyone and decided to act by themselves.

originally posted by: SlowNail
2 weapons specialists just turn up unannounced and unaccounted for?

Well, that's suspicious. Especially given all the confusion over multiple shooters.

Say, y'all remember when all those people were shot in that club?

And then we heard that there was an Israeli Special Forces Commando sneaking about?

And then we suddenly didn't hear about that anymore?

Dont let facts get in the way of TinFoil Narratives.

They werent announced or unaccounted for, as per the OP , "They had been training in nearby Coral Springs earlier that day"

I smell chit.....

a mile away on this story now

after seeing that last video specially....or mainly

the officers didn't seem too tactical.....at all

a reply to: vinifalou

This is retarded.

Screw the rules. Go help. Ignore everyone waiting for stand down orders. Ignore them all and do what you know is right.

These 2 guys should transfer to another department.

There may be reasons for them getting in trouble, but I dont care. They are wrong.

a reply to: tadaman

you , sir....have a fertile mind....nice to meet ya

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Nice to meet you too. We agree on lots. I dare say you have inspired me from time to time.

Have a good one.
Hold it down.

"Tinfoil narratives"? Say it isn't so! Not on America's largest conspiracy forum!!! How dare they!

a reply to: vinifalou

I can see the BCSO's point of view on this--in the military, you can't/shouldn't just run to jump into a possible firefight with another unit that doesn't know that you're coming and can't account for who you are or where you're supposed to be. The same makes sense in a situation like this from a command standpoint.

That said, I disagree with a punishment in this particular situation, where we had the BCSO failing to provide appropriate response to the situation, and the outcome was amazingly sad and disappointing, bordering, IMO, on criminal. If we had people willing to run toward the gunfire a not hide behind cars and concrete pillars, give them a goddam pay raise!

I would need to know more about the specifics as to how they found out about it and who they may have coordinated with before arriving on scene.

Of course they were punished. Their bungling could have ruined the whole psy op.

We have some major problems in our system that need to be fixed. I saw quite a few things that were wrong in these mass shootings lately in schools.