The Broward Sheriff’s Office has concluded its internal investigation of the Tamarac triple murder, Sheriff Gregory Tony announced Friday, firing an additional six deputies and disciplining 11 others.
It has been six months since Nathan Gingles is accused of shooting his ex-wife, Mary, her father, David Ponzer, and a neighbor, Andrew Ferrin, while hunting her through a Tamarac neighborhood early on a Sunday morning in February, their 4-year-old daughter following him. Gingles has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder.
The Sheriff’s Office investigated its deputies over two distinct failures, Tony said: Their handling of the investigation leading up to the murders as well as their active shooter response that day.
At a news conference announcing the firings Friday, Tony focused on the active shooter response, walking reporters through a video that outlined the events of the morning, minute by minute, and showing how several deputies and a sergeant arrived at the scene but did not confront Nathan Gingles until it was too late. He harshly condemned his deputies, comparing their actions that morning to BSO’s response to the mass shooting in Parkland, a failure he had been tasked with as a new sheriff to prevent from repeating.
“They could have been at that house within two minutes, max, running cold three,” Tony said. “There was no traffic on those streets that night. There was nothing to obstruct their ability, in a marked unit with lights and sirens, and the powers and authority invested in them from this state, to get there and do the damn job. So it’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Prior to the firings Friday, the Sheriff’s Office had demoted the captain of the Tamarac district, Jemeriah Cooper, and fired him, as well as another probationary employee. In total, 19 deputies have been either fired or suspended.
Despite the numerous deputies disciplined and policies violated, Tony maintained that BSO’s handling of both the investigation and the response that morning were not evidence of a systemic problem.
“I talk all the time in this profession,” he said. “I can train you, I can supply you, I can give you all the tools to be successful. What I can’t coach is courage and effort.”
Dan Rakofsky, the president of IUPA 6020, which represents BSO’s deputies and sergeants, told reporters Friday that he was “disappointed” with the conclusion of the investigation, saying it had a “predetermined outcome” based off of Tony’s comments immediately after the murders promising to fire his employees.
Rakofsky disagreed with Tony’s comments about a lack of systemic problems.
“There are definitely systemic problems,” he said. “Whether or not they are at fault in this scenario, I can’t say, but they’re certainly worth looking at. The actions of the employees can never be independent of the systems they work with.”
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