A teacher from Parkland, Fla., said Friday that people are directing their hurt and anger in the "wrong direction" by blaming a Broward County sheriff’s deputy who failed to act to try to prevent the deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week.

“People are angry right now. They’re angry, they’re hurting. And now all their hurt is being directed in, to me, the wrong direction,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas teacher Felicia Burgin said on MSNBC. “If you want to be angry at something, be angry at the gunman who killed all these people."

She said Deputy Scot Peterson, who was on the grounds during the shooting and resigned following an internal investigation, was being used as a “scapegoat.”

Peterson responded to the scene of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 while the gunman was inside the school.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said on Thursday that Peterson did not enter the building to confront the shooter, although he was armed.

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Israel said Peterson should have “went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer” instead of waiting for a few minutes outside the school.

Speaking at a conservative political conference on Friday, President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE said that Peterson either froze under pressure or was a "coward."

Burgin said she didn’t think it was possible for Peterson to react that quickly during chaos.

“I don’t think him going into the building would have prevented any deaths,” Burgin said on Friday.

“If Officer Peterson was up there, he would have been in a spot to have to shoot in a hallway where not only the shooter was but where children were," she continued.

Burgin said that while people are angry, they should not be directing their anger at Peterson.

"Be angry at gun laws that allow these guns to be purchased to 18-year-olds," she said. "Or the loophole where people can go to gun shows and get a gun without even registering it. There are so many things to be angry about and I think this is just misdirection.”

The suspected gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, purchased the AR-15 used in the shooting legally. He was arrested off school property and is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

The students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas have become outspoken advocates for gun control following the shooting.

Trump this week suggested arming teachers in order to prevent future school massacres, saying on Friday that if there has been a teacher with a gun inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas, they could have “shot the hell out of” the gunman.