Florida sheriff suspends 7 amid triple homicide, kidnapping investigation: 'This death is on my watch'

TAMARAC, Fla. - Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said people will be terminated as his agency looks into employee shortcomings amid a triple homicide and kidnapping investigation.

Florida triple homicide and kidnapping

The backstory:

According to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, 911 calls began coming in around 6 a.m. on Sunday about a reported shooting on North Grand Duke Circle in Tamarac, which is northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

Deputies who responded said they found David Pozner shot to death on the back patio of the home.

During that investigation, deputies learned that Pozner’s 4-year-old granddaughter had been taken from the home, likely by her dad, Nathan Gingles, which prompted an Amber Alert to be issued after 10 a.m.

Less than an hour later, the Broward Sheriff's Office found Nathan Gingles and the girl in a Walmart parking lot in North Lauderdale.

Deputies were also looking for Mary Gingles, the girl's mother. She was found dead inside another home on North Plum Bay Parkway. She had also been shot, officials said. In that same home, a man named Andrew Ferrin, was also found dead. The relationship between Ferrin and the others is not immediately clear.

Courtesy: FDLE

Broward Sheriff’s Office employees suspended

Dig deeper:

On Wednesday, the sheriff announced that seven BSO employees had been suspended. Those employees include one lieutenant, two sergeants and four deputies.

Tony said that an internal investigation began less than 24 hours after the triple homicide and kidnapping occurred.

READ: Florida man breaks essentially every bone in nurse's face during brutal hospital attack: Affidavit

The seven suspensions aren’t necessarily tied to what happened over the weekend but go back to previous incidents involving the Gingles.

On Wednesday, he noted that there had been dozens of calls for service involving the Gingles over the past few years. He said that sometimes the call came from Nathan Gingles regarding his wife and sometimes she was the one asking for help.

However, he added that the internal investigation will look at incidents in October, December and the one from over the weekend.

Timeline:

In October 2024, Tony said there was a call at the Gingles home regarding a tracker. He said that there was probably more deputies could have done at the time and that’s one of the things they are looking in to.

In December, he said a deputy went out to the scene and spent 35 minutes and 34 seconds talking to the victim. It was a robust conversation and Mary Gingles said she was scared Nathan Gingles was going to kill her. At that time, he said there was likely enough information to pursue a probable cause affidavit, so Nathan Gingles could have been arrested and taken off the street, but it didn’t happen.

What they're saying:

"These aren’t shortcomings of policies, procedures, trainings, or equipment from my assessment," Tony said. "This is really a problem with performance. Whether it be complacency, not taking a greater interest, and not doing their due diligence to make sure they are accurately documenting everything so that when it does arrive in the investigator’s hand, they have a comprehensive report that will allow them to make better judgment and decisions."

Weapons seized and given back

Dig deeper:

Tony also noted that at one point Nathan Gingles’ weapons were seized as part of an injunction violation. However, the sheriff said that once the injunction was null and void because the victim decided to go down that path, there was a legal obligation to return the guns.

The sheriff stated there was a second injunction and wants to know why the weapons weren't confiscated at that time.

He added that he’s looking into how many more calls of service took place at the home after he received his weapons back and whether there was enough evidence to take the guns a second time or a third time or retain those weapons to keep them out of his hands.

"This is a matter of piss-poor performance, complacency and people not doing their due diligence," the sheriff stated.

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Tony said that he has fired more than 75 employees since he’s been the sheriff and "people will lose their jobs over this."

"When we rectify this situation, I’m going to send the fear of God among this entire agency to make damn sure we don’t go through this again because this death is on my watch."

The Source: This story was written with information provided during a Broward Sheriff's Office news conference and previous FOX 13 News reports.

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