The two FBI agents were fatally shot while serving a search warrant at an apartment in Florida were remembered as heroes who were dedicated to protecting children from sexual predators.
FBI Special Agents Daniel Alfin, 36, and Laura Schwartzenberger, 43, specialized in investigating child pornography and crimes against children and worked out of the Miami Field Office, The USA Today reports.
“Special Agent Alfin and Special Agent Schwartzenberger exemplified heroism today in defense of their country,” Wray said in a statement. “The FBI will always honor their ultimate sacrifice and will be forever grateful for their bravery.”
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.
Schwartzenberger, 43, 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.
“They will forever be heroes,” George Piro, special agent in charge of the Miami Field Office, said. “We are saddened by the loss as we struggle to come to terms with what happened.”
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.
