In the early morning of Tuesday local time, two FBI agents were killed and three others were injured while enforcing the law in a house in Florida.
This incident became one of the bloodiest incidents in decades for federal law enforcement agencies in the United States.
The shooting occurred at 6 a.m. ET just as a team of law enforcement officers tried to enforce a court-mandated search warrant to investigate violent crimes committed by children in Sunrise, Florida, the FBI said in a statement.
The FBI Secret Service Association added in a statement that the search warrant was to find evidence of suspected possession of child pornography.
The FBI said that two of the wounded agents were in stable condition in the hospital, while the third agent did not need to be hospitalized.
The statement said that the object of the search warrant was also dead, but his identity was not disclosed.
The New York Times quoted anonymous officials as saying that the man apparently locked himself in an apartment building and was found dead. The newspaper said it was unclear how he died.
White House Press Secretary Saaki said that U.S. President Biden has heard a briefing on the matter and may deal with the matter later on Tuesday.
FBI Director Christopher Ray confirmed that the two agents were Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwarzberg, and praised them as heroes.
Ray said in a statement: “Agent Alphine and Agent Schwarzberg have demonstrated heroism today in defending their country.
The FBI will always respect their sacrifices and always be grateful for their bravery.” The report said that the shooting death was still under investigation, which was one of the bloodiest incidents of the FBI.
According to the FBI website, two agents and a detective were shot dead at the police headquarters in Washington, D.C.
in 1994, when a murder suspect opened fire on them with an assault weapon and injured another agent.
Another fatal incident, the FBI said, occurred in 1986, also in Florida, when two agents were killed and five others were injured in a shooting battle with two bank robbers in Miami.
The most recent fatal shooting of FBI agents on duty occurred on November 19, 2008, also in the process of executing a search warrant.
According to the report, special agent Samuel Hicks was shot dead while trying to execute a federal arrest warrant related to a drug trafficking organization in Pittsburgh.
