Broward sheriff ’s race rocked by decades-old revelation

When Tony was 14, he killed a man, but says incident was in self-defense

A newly disclosed development from decades ago — the killing of a teenager by Gregory Tony, then 14 and now the sheriff of Broward County — unleashed a torrent of dramatically different assessments on Sunday.

In one view, the incident shows someone who emerged, and ultimately thrived, as a law enforcement role model in Florida, after growing up in a crimeravaged Philadelphia neighborhood.

The other view is that Tony improperly kept his role in the killing hidden when he was hired as a Coral Springs police officer — and again last year when he was appointed Broward sheriff by Gov. Ron DeSantis. was able to shoot me and my brother, I was able to defend myself and shoot him.”

Tony said he couldn’t just run inside and shut the door, because Rodriguez “made his way in.”

The shooting occurred outside the home, as Rodriguez “stood just off the curb,” according to news reports, which also said Tony retrieved the gun from under his father’s mattress and the bullets from elsewhere in the house. Tony said on Sunday he didn’t remember the details.

“We’re going back 27 years ago,” he said, emphasizing that authorities ultimately cleared him.

Tony’s parents made sure he received counseling, he remembered.

Even after the shooting, the violence “was just as bad,” he said. “I had to make it out of there. … I never looked back.”

He said he sympathizes with the family of Rodriguez, but “at the same time, I didn’t do anything wrong.” He said he hated having to bring up the fact that “their loved one was trying to kill me … and was part of the worst of society.”

The police report said Rodriguez had multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body, according to the Florida Bulldog.

Maritza Carrasquillo, Rodriguez’s girlfriend and the mother of his then 5-month-old child, said witnesses told her Tony was about 6 to 10 feet away from her boyfriend when he began shooting, according to the news site. The first bullet struck Rodriguez in the stomach. Tony then shot him four or five more times in the head, Carrasquillo told the news site. officer, I’m able to … go into some of the darkest communities of Broward County and be able to relate to the black and brown kids who are suffering from some of the same things I had to witness,” he said.

In disclosures for his job with the Coral Springs Police Department, Tony did admit he sprayed graffiti, used marijuana twice, bounced checks, received food and candy purchased with drug money, engaged in street fighting, and took $200 from his parents, during the early 1990s.

He remembered bullets flying as he sat home watching TV, and his family hitting the floor to avoid them.

But he said he also had an uncle and aunt who were police officers. “I fought to get out of there, knowing that’s what I wanted to do one day,” he said.

The incident hasn’t been widely known until this weekend. Helen Ferre, the governor’s communications director, said DeSantis was told Saturday by his chief of staff, Shane Strum. She said she didn’t know if Tony reached out to the governor’s office or if Strum learned about it from news reports.

Until then, Ferre said via text, “the governor was not aware of this 1993 incident when Sheriff Gregory Tony was a 14-year-old living in Philadelphia with his family.”

Tony said he didn’t think disclosure would have impacted the governor’s decision. “You’re saying that I should have disclosed a horrific incident that I faced as a 14-year-old kid, where I had to survive a shooting,” he said. “… Why would I put myself in a position where I’m talking about a brutal attack that I survived, for the sake of an interview? I don’t think anyone would have done that.”