Details are still circulating about the fatal FBI raid in Sunrise, Florida, which left two agents dead, three more wounded and allegedly killed by the suspect – the agency’s deadliest day since 9/11.
While the flag at the FBI Miami field office dropped by half-staff on Wednesday, a new report indicated that the suspect used a doorbell camera and allegedly shot at agents through the door.
The suspect, who was not immediately named by authorities, allegedly put a camera in his doorbell and used it to monitor agents as they approached his home, two unknown law enforcement officials told the Miami Herald. The gunman allegedly shot through the unopened door at agents using an assault rifle, leaving the door littered with bullet holes.
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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 raid.
The Herald also reported that the shooter apparently died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Five agents were hit by gunfire, killing two agents and sustaining three “wounds of varying severity,” FBI Miami Special Agent George Piro said in a statement.
Piro said the suspect would first be identified before his family was notified.
Law enforcement officers working where a shooting took place wounded several FBI personnel while serving an arrest warrant on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida. South Florida police have raided a neighborhood after a Tuesday morning shooting involving FBI agents. (AP Photo / Marta Lavandier)
(AP)
A preliminary investigation has led federal officials to believe the suspect shot himself fatally, another unnamed law enforcement official told The Associated Press, warning that an official cause of death has not yet been determined. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation in public.
Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, identified the two murdered agents as Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, who both specialized in investigating crimes against children.
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Marshall told Fox News on Wednesday that the bureau does not currently provide information on the two agents who were transported to the hospital on Tuesday, each suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He also declined to comment further on when the name of the suspect was expected to be released.
Wray confirmed in his statement Tuesday night that both agents are now in a stable condition. The third wounded agent did not require hospitalization and was treated at the scene.
Law enforcement officers cordoned off an area where a shooting wounded several FBI agents while serving an arrest warrant on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo / Marta Lavandier)
The suspect opened fire when agents issued a federal warrant in connection with a child pornography case and violent crimes against children, according to Miami FBI agent Michael D. Leverock and FBI agency president Brian O’Hare. The office did not release additional information about the case against the now deceased man.
The raid
The shooting happened Tuesday around 6 a.m. in a middle-class neighborhood of single-family homes, duplexes and apartment buildings west of Fort Lauderdale, near the Everglades.
The gunfire erupted with about four shots – “Tree, tree, tree, tree!” Julius McLymont, whose home borders the Water Terrace apartment complex where the suspect was barricaded, told The AP.
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Initially, McLymont said he thought the gunfire was a car, and then two minutes later he heard of five more shots.
He said he was going outside and looking over his fence when police cars and ambulances stormed in. Then he saw officers lying on someone on the ground, before loading the person into an ambulance.
Law enforcers meet near the scene of a shooting that wounded several FBI agents in Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
A SWAT team appears next, according to him, with officers putting on riot gear. Then they went around the building and shouted, “Go, go, go!” according to McLymont. He said he could not see the apartment where the shooting took place. Hours later, Sunrise police urged Water Terrace residents to stay inside their homes while law enforcement blocked the entrances to their community.
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The injured FBI agents
Alfin, 36, who has been a special agent of the FBI since 2009, was recently involved in a case against an assistant to the mayor of Miami, who is accused of luring a teenage victim to the town hall under the cloak of an interview and then kissed and loved. him during the meeting. Rene Pedrosa, who was originally executed on state charges later dismissed due to federal charges filed in March 2020, allegedly also sent ominous photos to his victim.
Alfin was also involved in an FBI burglary campaign to expose child pornography distributed on the dark website, Playpen. The investigation later dismissed website founder Steven Chase, who was sentenced in 2017 to 30 years in prison.
Schwartzenberger, 43, an FBI agent since 2005, has also investigated child exploitation investigations, including many child pornography on the Internet. She was also active in the community and 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 fire rescue truck as it brought the body of one of the agents to the medical examiner’s office in nearby Dania Beach. Law enforcement officers from numerous agencies lined up to pay their respects when a flag-covered body was removed from the vehicle and taken inside.
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According to the Bureau’s Wall of Honor, there have been several other shooting incidents in the FBI’s history in which agents have died.
In South Florida, the infamous “Miami Shootout” in 1986 claimed the lives of agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove in a gun with two heavily armed robbery suspects also killed. Five other FBI agents were wounded in the shooting, which led to the bureau upgrading the weapons carrying agents.
The FBI Miami Field Office is named after the two agents who were killed.
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report, as did The Associated Press.