SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - A retired Broward Sheriff’s Office sergeant believes the FBI should serve future search warrants along with a SWAT Team to help prevent a similar shooting from happening.
FBI Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were killed during Tuesday’s shooting at the Water Terrace Apartments in Sunrise.
The two agents were serving a search warrant when the suspect, 55-year-old David Lee Huber, watched as they approached on his Ring camera. Huber was wanted on child pornography charges.
Huber then opened fire, striking Schwartzenberger and Alfin and injuring three other agents. 7SkyForce captured a window and door riddled with bullet holes at the apartment where the shooting took place.
Several questions remain two days after the shooting — could it have been prevented? Could anything have been done differently?
Giuseppe “Joe” Weller, a retired BSO sergeant, worked Internet Crimes Against Children for 10 years and is a 20-year veteran of the department.
“At BSO, and during my time there, I can tell you that we did at least one a week, and we did a ton of them throughout the year,” Weller said.
He also worked with Schwartzenberger many times and served search warrants with her.
“We’ve done cases together,” he said. “She would come to the office, and we would go down to the FBI.”
Weller said BSO would have only served ICAC search warrants with a SWAT Team in place to make entry, and he believes the FBI should do the same moving forward.
“They need to be on every single search warrant that they do. It has to be,” Weller said. “This is violent crimes against children. They are the most experienced, most outfitted. They can do the job. Any critical incident that happens on the scene, they’re on spot as it is. I’ve got the training, too, but not at that level.”
BSO began serving ICAC search warrants with the SWAT Team following the death of Deputy Todd Fatta in 2004. He was serving a child pornography search warrant in Fort Lauderdale when the suspect, like Huber, opened fire with an assault-style rifle.
“That doorway is the most dangerous place to be,” Weller said. “They call it a fatal funnel, which is in front of the door. That’s it. If you’re in that doorway, that’s where it’s going to happen at. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have Kevlar helmets walking in there. I didn’t have a Kevlar helmet. The SWAT Teams do. They have all this gear on purpose. They’re so tactical in what they do and how they do it. We do it, too, but we don’t do it every day.”
Weller added that once the SWAT Team makes entry and the all clear is given, then the agents can enter the area and begin their work.
“They have Kevlar helmets. Some of them have upgraded body armor, and they know the layouts of most houses, and they do a good job,” Weller said. “That’s their specialty, so why not give it to them, and let them do it? We’re the case agents. We do good online investigations. We can do all the interviews, but let them handle what they know how to handle.”
BSO, like the FBI, has to follow certain protocols when serving a search warrant.
“They set up like anybody else,” Weller said. “They do their briefings. Everybody knows their jobs and roles and who’s going to be at the front, who’s going to be at the back, and if something does happen, who gets contact and what goes on? And they have that all in place. The only problem is you can’t predict what’s going to happen at that door.”
The FBI continues to investigate the fatal shooting and will determine if it could have been prevented or what could be done going forward.
“They are super high-risk warrants, no matter how you look at them,” Weller said. “People have weapons, and they will do what they need to do, especially in child pornography cases, this is a sensitive area. They know that it’s a secrecy. If they get exposed, it’s a way out.”
Weller said he is speaking out because, as a retired deputy, he is able to. He hopes something changes moving forward, so a tragedy like Tuesday’s shooting never happens again.
“It’s come to a point where, hey, you got to move to the times,” Weller said. “You’re ancient in what you’re doing, but the reality is we’ve suffered losses for no reason, no reason at all.”
The FBI has its own SWAT Team, but it is unclear when the SWAT Team is used in these instances.
Weller added he is not singling out the FBI by speaking out, he is singling out other agencies like Homeland Security, who do not use SWAT Teams for all ICAC searches. He hopes the protocols get reassessed in the future.
Ahead of their Thursday night game against the Nashville Predators, the Florida Panthers paid their respects to the fallen agent with a moment of silence.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., remembered the lives lost in the tragedy during a session of Congress.
“They died protecting our most vulnerable citizens and the community they loved,” she said.
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