POMPANO BEACH Deputies stormed a home during a search for drugs and guns just after midnight Saturday and killed the owner when she refused to drop her gun, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.
Brenda Van Zwieten, 52, was shot and killed in the home she lived in for more than two decades. Deputies arrested four people on drug charges in connection with their search warrant.
"When you approach a police officer with a loaded weapon and don't put the weapon down, there's going to be consequences," sheriff's spokesman Mike Jachles said. "It's unfortunate, but I'd rather be talking about a dead suspect than a dead cop."
Teary-eyed friends and family gathered Saturday morning at the home on Southwest 18th Court and described Van Zwieten's killing as unjust. People in the neighborhood referred her as "Mom."
"It was an unlawful shooting," said Van Zwieten's brother, Bill George. "She was 98 pounds. She was trying to protect herself."
The family said deputies entered the home by smashing through the front window and startling Van Zwieten. They said she recently had been getting threats from someone.
"I would come out of my room with a gun too," George said.
Van Zwieten was a mother of four boys, two of whom died previously. One was killed in a car crash in October and the other died of an overdose 2 1/2 years ago.
Van Zwieten was unemployed and loved spending time with her grandchildren. She had no criminal history involving drugs or violence, state records show.
Sheriff Al Lamberti said at a news conference that the deputies who raided the home announced their presence through a back door multiple times. He noted that Van Zwieten's 47-year-old boyfriend, Gary Nunnemacher, surrendered immediately.
Lamberti listed the items seized in the raid: 324 grams of marijuana, 4 grams of crack cocaine, 1 gram of heroin, six marijuana plants, 40 tablets of the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, $550 in cash, two shotguns and one rifle. Also seized was the .357-caliber Magnum handgun that Lamberti said Van Zwieten pointed at deputies and refused to put down.
Nunnemacher was arrested on drug charges. Other suspects were arrested away from the home earlier Friday night. They were Chaylenne Pallazzo, 21, and Patrick Banks, 18, both of Pompano Beach, and Jorge Lopez, 23, who is homeless.
Two deputies involved in the shooting were placed on standard paid administrative leave while the investigation continues. The deputies have not been identified.
Lamberti said detectives obtained a warrant after complaints from neighbors that the home was a drug house.
"I'm sure that the neighbors are relieved," he said. "We put a drug den down in their neighborhood."
The people who gathered Saturday outside the home described it as a neighborhood hangout, a sanctuary where friends of her children would pass the time. Deputies described it as a blemish on an otherwise nice neighborhood.
Jachles said BSO's selective enforcement teams "find the hot spots and clean up the streets so residents can have a better quality of life."
Blood stained the floor in Van Zwieten's room. Her son Robert Singleton, 32, sat on her bed Saturday trying to make sense of the loss.
"It didn't matter who you were," he said, "she would do anything for you."
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Sun-Sentinel Video Saying the Cops' Story is Bullshit and She Was Shot in the Back While Fleeing
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Brenda Van Zwieten, 52, was shot and killed in the home she lived in for more than two decades. Deputies arrested four people on drug charges in connection with their search warrant.
"When you approach a police officer with a loaded weapon and don't put the weapon down, there's going to be consequences," sheriff's spokesman Mike Jachles said. "It's unfortunate, but I'd rather be talking about a dead suspect than a dead cop."
Teary-eyed friends and family gathered Saturday morning at the home on Southwest 18th Court and described Van Zwieten's killing as unjust. People in the neighborhood referred her as "Mom."
"It was an unlawful shooting," said Van Zwieten's brother, Bill George. "She was 98 pounds. She was trying to protect herself."
The family said deputies entered the home by smashing through the front window and startling Van Zwieten. They said she recently had been getting threats from someone.
"I would come out of my room with a gun too," George said.
Van Zwieten was a mother of four boys, two of whom died previously. One was killed in a car crash in October and the other died of an overdose 2 1/2 years ago.
Van Zwieten was unemployed and loved spending time with her grandchildren. She had no criminal history involving drugs or violence, state records show.
Sheriff Al Lamberti said at a news conference that the deputies who raided the home announced their presence through a back door multiple times. He noted that Van Zwieten's 47-year-old boyfriend, Gary Nunnemacher, surrendered immediately.
Lamberti listed the items seized in the raid: 324 grams of marijuana, 4 grams of crack cocaine, 1 gram of heroin, six marijuana plants, 40 tablets of the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, $550 in cash, two shotguns and one rifle. Also seized was the .357-caliber Magnum handgun that Lamberti said Van Zwieten pointed at deputies and refused to put down.
Nunnemacher was arrested on drug charges. Other suspects were arrested away from the home earlier Friday night. They were Chaylenne Pallazzo, 21, and Patrick Banks, 18, both of Pompano Beach, and Jorge Lopez, 23, who is homeless.
Two deputies involved in the shooting were placed on standard paid administrative leave while the investigation continues. The deputies have not been identified.
Lamberti said detectives obtained a warrant after complaints from neighbors that the home was a drug house.
"I'm sure that the neighbors are relieved," he said. "We put a drug den down in their neighborhood."
The people who gathered Saturday outside the home described it as a neighborhood hangout, a sanctuary where friends of her children would pass the time. Deputies described it as a blemish on an otherwise nice neighborhood.
Jachles said BSO's selective enforcement teams "find the hot spots and clean up the streets so residents can have a better quality of life."
Blood stained the floor in Van Zwieten's room. Her son Robert Singleton, 32, sat on her bed Saturday trying to make sense of the loss.
"It didn't matter who you were," he said, "she would do anything for you."
NSFW:
source
Sun-Sentinel Video Saying the Cops' Story is Bullshit and She Was Shot in the Back While Fleeing
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