Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel speaks before a CNN town hall broadcast on Feb. 21 in Sunrise, Fla. On Sunday, he defended his office's actions in response to a shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school. | Michael Laughlin/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Broward sheriff: 'I won’t resign’

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel pushed back Sunday on calls for his resignation in the aftermath of the shooting at a high school in his jurisdiction that killed 17 people.

Israel was asked by host Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" about a letter from Florida state Republican Rep. Bill Hager to Gov. Rick Scott asking him to oust Israel for "neglect of duty and incompetence."


"It was a shameful letter. It was politically motivated," Israel responded. "I never met that man. He doesn't know anything about me, and the letter was full of misinformation."

Israel said that in response, he had written a letter to Scott, defending himself and pointing out the "mistakes" in Hager's letter.

"It was a shameful, politically motivated letter that had no facts. And, of course, I won't resign," Israel said.

During the lengthy back-and-forth, the sheriff sparred with Tapper over mounting criticism against Israel concerning red flags brought to the Broward County Sheriff's Office about the accused gunman before the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Specifically, Tapper pressed the sheriff on a school resource officer on duty that day who did not enter the building in which the gunman was firing. The officer has since resigned.

"It makes me sick to my stomach we had a deputy who didn't go in,” Israel said Sunday.

Still, Israel defended his office's actions.

"Our deputies have done amazing things," Israel said. "We've taken this — the five years I've been sheriff, we've taken the Broward sheriff's office to a new level."