FBI agents killed in Florida: suspect allegedly used doorbell camera, closed-door assault rifle

Details continue to emerge about the FBI’s fatal attack in Sunrise, Florida, which left two officers dead, three injured, and resulted in the suspect’s death from suicide – the agency’s deadliest day since 9/11.

While the flags of the FBI Miami Field Office remained lowered on Wednesday, a new report indicated that the suspect used a doorbell camera and allegedly shot agents through the door.

The suspect, who was not immediately identified by the authorities, reportedly placed a camera on his doorbell and was using it to monitor agents when they approached his home, two unidentified police officers told the Miami Herald. The sniper would then have shot through the closed door at agents who had been using an assault rifle, leaving the door riddled with bullet holes, the report said.

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James Marshall, a spokesman for the FBI Miami Field Office, declined to comment to Fox News on Wednesday about the details of the operation.

The Herald also reported that the shooter appeared to have died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Five officers were shot, resulting in the deaths of two officers and three sustained “injuries of varying severity”, Miami FBI special agent George Piro said in a statement on Tuesday.

Piro said the suspect would not be identified until his family was notified.

A preliminary investigation led federal authorities to believe that the suspect shot himself, another unnamed police officer told the Associated Press, warning that the official cause of death has yet to be determined. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

FBI director Christopher Wray identified the two dead agents as Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, both of whom specialize in investigating crimes against children.

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Marshall told Fox News on Wednesday that the bureau was not providing updates at this time about the two agents who were transported to the hospital on Tuesday, each suffering from several gunshot wounds. He also declined to comment further on when the suspect’s name should be released.

Wray confirmed in his statement Tuesday night that both agents were now in a stable condition. The third injured agent did not need to be hospitalized and was treated at the scene.

The suspect opened fire when agents came to fulfill a federal warrant in connection with a case involving child pornography and violent crimes against children, according to Miami FBI agent Michael D. Leverock and the president of the FBI Agent Association, Brian O’Hare. The agency did not release additional information about the case against the man, now deceased.

The Raid

The shooting took place around 6 am Tuesday in a middle-class neighborhood with residences, duplexes and apartment buildings located west of Fort Lauderdale, near the Everglades.

The shooting broke out with about four shots – “Boom, boom, boom, boom!” Julius McLymont, whose house borders the Water Terrace apartment complex where the suspect was barricaded, told the AP.

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At first, McLymont said he thought the shooting was backfired on a car, then two minutes later he heard about five more shots.

He said he got out and looked over the fence when police cars and ambulances ran in. Then he saw policemen working on someone who was lying on the floor before they put the person in an ambulance.

A SWAT team then appeared, he said, with policemen wearing riot gear. Then they came around the building shouting “Go, go, go!” according to McLymont. He said he could not see the apartment where the shooting happened from its location. Hours later, Sunrise Police asked Water Terrace residents to remain inside their homes while the police blocked their community’s entrances.

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The injured FBI agents

Alfin, 36, who has been an FBI special agent since 2009, was recently involved in a case against an adviser to the mayor of Miami accused of luring a teenage victim to City Hall under the guise of an interview and then kissing and caressing him. during the meeting. Rene Pedrosa, who originally faced state charges that were later dropped on federal charges filed in March 2020, reportedly also sent obscene photos to his victim.

Alfin was also involved in an FBI hacking campaign to expose child pornography that circulated on the dark website, Playpen. The investigation subsequently brought down the site’s founder, Steven Chase, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2017.

Schwartzenberger, 43, an FBI agent since 2005, has also worked on child exploitation investigations, many involving child pornography on the Internet. She was also active in the community, visiting high schools to teach students about the dangers of online predators.

After the shooting on Tuesday, police motorcycles with their flashing lights escorted a rescue truck carrying the body of one of the officers to the coroner’s office in Dania Beach. Law enforcement officers from various agencies lined up to pay their respects when a flag-covered body was removed from the vehicle and carried inside.

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There have been several other shootings throughout FBI history in which agents died, according to the bureau’s Wall of Honor.

In South Florida, the infamous 1986 “Miami shootout” took the lives of agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove in a shootout with two heavily armed robbery suspects who were also killed. Five other FBI agents were wounded in that shooting, which prompted the agency to update the weapons the agents carry.

The FBI Miami Field Office is named after the two dead agents.

Fox News’s Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report, as did The Associated Press.