The man who shot and killed two FBI agents Tuesday morning while being served a child pornography warrant died by suicide.
Police in Sunrise, Florida, said Wednesday morning the suspect, whose name has not been released, was found dead inside his apartment after three other injured agents were being rescued.
FBI Director Christopher Wray identified the two slain agents as Special Agent Daniel Alfin and Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger.
Wray said two of the injured agents required hospitalization, while the third agent’s injuries did not require medical attention. Both of the hospitalized agents are in stable condition.
The confrontation in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Sunrise marked one of the bloodiest days in FBI history in South Florida and among the deadliest nationally as well, according to the FBI website.
The shooting happened about 6 a.m. in a middle-class neighborhood of single-family homes, duplexes and apartment buildings. The suspect’s name was not released.
The gunfire erupted with about four shots — “Boom, boom, boom, boom!” said Julius McLymont, whose house borders the Water Terrace apartment complex where the suspect was barricaded.
At first, McLymont thought the gunfire was a car backfiring, then two minutes later he heard about five more shots. He went outside and looked over his fence as police cars and ambulances rushed in. Then he saw officers working on someone lying on the ground before they loaded the person into an ambulance.
A SWAT team appeared next, with officers donning riot gear. Then they went around the building, yelling, “Go, go, go!” McLymont said. He said he couldn’t see the apartment where the shooting happened from his location.
Television video showed police motorcycles, with lights flashing, escorting a fire rescue truck that was bringing the body of one of the agents to the medical examiner’s office in nearby Dania Beach. Law enforcement officials from numerous agencies lined up to pay their respect as a flag-covered body was removed from the vehicle and taken inside.
Hours later, Sunrise Police urged residents of Water Terrace to remain inside their homes while law enforcement blocked the entrances to their community.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida issued a statement following Wray’s update:
There have been several other shootings throughout the FBI’s history in which two agents have died, according to the bureau’s Wall of Honor.
In South Florida, the infamous “Miami Shootout” in 1986 claimed the lives of Agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove in a gunbattle with two heavily armed robbery suspects who were also killed. Five other FBI agents were wounded in that shooting, which led the bureau to upgrade the weapons that agents carry.
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