By Steve Neavling
Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, the two FBI agents who killed while serving a search warrant at a home in Florida last week, were honored at separate memorial services over the weekend.
The solemn services, which included a bagpipe serenade, a 21-gun salute, a police helicopter flyover, and remarks from the FBI’s top officials, were held at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
The agents were remembered as heroes who were dedicated to protecting children from sexual predators.
Schwartzenberger, 43, a wife and mother to two children, was honored Saturday.
“She was brave in pursuit of criminals seeking to harm the most innocent and vulnerable among us, no matter how dangerous. And she relied on her heart and compassion in smaller moments, when it was needed the most,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
Read Wray’s full comments here.
Schwartzenberger joined the bureau’s Albuquerque Field Office in 2005 and was transferred to Miami in 2010. She tracked suspects accused of exploiting children online. She had a husband and two children.
Alfie, a husband and father to one child, was remembered at a service Sunday.
“Dan’s legacy is one of passion, dedication, and principle,” Wray said. “It’s what you imagine when you think of a proud FBI agent who will do anything to catch the bad guy, and a devoted father who would do anything for his family.”
Read Wray’s full comments here.
Alfin, a New York native, was first assigned to the FBI’s Albany Field Office office in 2009. Over the past six years, he investigated crimes against children. He had a wife and child.
Wray added, “On Tuesday, we lost not one of our own, but two. Two warriors who took on one of the hardest jobs in the FBI, crimes against children. Two best friends who shared the same passion, the same determination, and—in spite of all they had witnessed in their extraordinary careers—the same sense of optimism and hope that comes from work that matters. Two of the very best the FBI had to offer.”
Three other FBI agents were shot outside the Sunrise, Fla., apartment of David Lee Huber, a 55-year-old systems engineer who was suspected of possessing child pornography.
Two of the agents were hospitalized and later released, and the third agent was not taken to the hospital.
The shooting was one of the deadliest in FBI history.
