By: Teresa Mull

The sheriff who oversaw the bungling response to the tragic Parkland, Florida school shooting last February has been fired.

The Sun Sentinel reports:

Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Broward Sheriff Scott Israel from office Friday, replacing him after 10 months of turmoil spawned by the slaughter of 17 staff and students in Parkland.

The new governor replaced Israel with former Coral Springs Police Sgt. Gregory Tony, 40, who has a background in active-shooter training and becomes the first black sheriff in Broward County’s history.

“I have no interest in dancing on Scott Israel’s political grave,” DeSantis said of the Democratic former sheriff, “but suffice it to say the massacre might never have happened had Broward had better leadership in the sheriff’s department.”

After the shooting happened, it came to light that Israel’s deputy never went into the building to confront the shooter, Nikolas Cruz.

"Still, as it became clear that Israel’s department dropped that ball, he remained adamant that nothing was his fault," Townhall reports. "There were also allegations that Israel had built a political machine in the county with taxpayer money, but the mounting criticism to the response to the school shooting prompted a confidence vote from the rank-and-file. And it didn’t get better. A deputy, who has since been fired, that was in charge of school security after the shooting was caught sleeping on the job. "

Scott_Israel-_Sheriff-_Broward_County_Sheriff-s_Office-1
Former Broward Sheriff, Scott Israel

Blaming the NRA
Israel, "the coward of Broward," is not taking his dismissal graciously.

The Blaze reports:

Israel claimed the NRA "controls" DeSantis, vowed to "vigorously" fight his suspension in court and before the Florida Senate, and made it clear he continues to believe the impetus for the Parkland massacre was "gun violence.

"This suspension is not about what occurred on February 14th," Israel said. "This was about politics, not about Parkland."

"Now, the National Rifle Association controls the governor’s actions. And they are now trying to control law enforcement in Broward County," he added. "I understand it’s easier to say ‘Suspend Sheriff Israel’ than it is to address the real problem: The problem around this nation of gun violence."

Dana Loesch, an NRA spokeman, said on Fox News,

“Having a clear policy and going after active shooters, you know the Stoneman Douglas commission when they were talking to deputies they learned from these deputies that the deputies could not remember the last time that they had active shooter training or what kind of training it was. And furthermore, when Scott Israel had said that they had no legal means to go and arrest this murderer, actually that was a lie too.”

Just recently, "The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission voted 13-1 to recommend the Legislature allow the arming of teachers, saying it’s not enough to have one or two police officers or armed guards on campus," Fox News reported.