FBI agents killed in Florida: suspect allegedly used doorbell camera, fired assault rifle through locked door

More and more details are emerging about the fatal FBI raid on Sunrise, Fla., Which left two agents dead, three more injured and the suspect allegedly dying of suicide – the agency’s deadliest day since 9/11.

While flags at the FBI Miami Field Office continued to be lowered on half-servants on Wednesday, a new report indicated the suspect had used a doorbell camera and allegedly fired at officers through the door.

The suspect, who was not immediately named by authorities, allegedly placed a camera in his doorbell and used it to monitor agents as they approached his home, two unnamed law enforcement officers told the Miami Herald. The shooter then allegedly fired through the unopened door at officers who came with an assault rifle, leaving the door full of bullet holes, the report said.

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

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

Five officers were hit by gunfire, resulting in the deaths of two officers, and three sustained “injuries of varying severity,” George Piro, the Miami FBI’s chief agent, said in a statement Tuesday.

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

A preliminary investigation has led federal officials to believe the suspect fatally shot himself, another unnamed law enforcement official told The Associated Press, warning that no official cause of death has yet been established. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

FBI Director Christopher Wray identified the two murdered agents as Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, both of whom specialized in investigating crimes against children.

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Marshall told Fox News on Wednesday that the agency was not currently providing updates on the two agents who were taken to hospital on Tuesday, each with multiple gunshot wounds. He also declined to comment further on when the suspect’s name was expected to be released.

Wray confirmed in his statement Tuesday evening that both agents were now in stable condition. The third injured officer did not need to be hospitalized and was treated on the spot.

Miami FBI agent Michael D. Leverock and Brian O’Hare, the president of the FBI Agents Association, said the suspect opened fire when agents served federal warrants related to a case involving child pornography and violent crimes against children. The agency has not released additional information about the case against the now deceased man.

The robbery

The shooting took place around 6 a.m. on Tuesday in a middle-class neighborhood of single-family homes, duplexes, and apartment buildings west of Fort Lauderdale, near the Everglades.

The gunfire broke out in about four shots – “Boom, boom, boom, boom!” Julius McLymont, whose home is adjacent to the Water Terrace apartment complex where the suspect was barricaded, told The AP.

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At first, McLymont said he thought the gunfire was a recoil from a car, but 2 minutes later he heard about five more shots.

He said he went out and looked over his fence as police cars and ambulances rushed in. Then he saw officers working with someone lying on the floor before loading that person into an ambulance.

Then a SWAT team showed up, he said, with agents in riot gear. Then they walked around the building shouting, “Go, go, go!” according to McLymont. He said he could not see the apartment where the shooting took place from his location. Hours later, Sunrise police urged the residents of Water Terrace to stay in their homes, while police blocked the entrances to their community.

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The injured FBI agents

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

Alfin was also involved in an FBI hacking campaign to expose child pornography circulating on the dark website, Playpen. The investigation later overturned 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, mostly involving child pornography on the Internet. She was also active in the community, attending high schools to teach students about the dangers of online predators.

After Tuesday’s shooting, police engines with flashing lights escorted a fire truck that took the body of one of the officers 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 agency’s Wall of Honor, there have been several other shootings in the history of the FBI that have killed agents.

In South Florida, the infamous “Miami Shootout” in 1986 claimed the lives of agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove in a gunfight with two heavily armed robbery suspects who were also killed. Five other FBI agents were injured in that shooting, forcing the agency to upgrade the weapons that agents were carrying.

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

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