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Seven Broward County, Florida, deputies were placed on leave as the sheriff investigates what he called the “piss-poor” handling of an ongoing domestic violence dispute that ended in a triple homicide.
At a news conference Wednesday, Sheriff Gregory Tony ripped into the deputies’ performance, saying several “shortcomings” led to the Feb 16. murder of Mary Gingles, her father David Ponzer and neighbor Andrew Ferrin.
Gingles’ 4-year-old daughter was kidnapped but found safe hours later in a vehicle with her father Nathan Gingles, who was arrested on several charges including first-degree murder with a firearm.
“This is just a matter of what I’ve seen of piss-poor performance, complacency, and people not doing their due diligence,” Tony said, calling it “bulls— work.”
He said that during the process of looking into the murders, his office “ended up opening up an internal affairs investigation to identify any shortcomings.”
To the family of the victims, he added: “Basically, we had a chance to save your loved one’s life and we failed.”
Just after 6 a.m. on Feb. 16, deputies were called to a street in Tamarac, about 13 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, for reports of a shooting. Deputies found Ponzer, 64, dead from a gunshot wound on the back patio of a home on North Plum Bay Parkway, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
During the investigation, authorities learned that 4-year-old Seraphine Gingles had been taken from the home and was possibly with her father. A statewide Amber Alert was issued as investigators searched for Mary Gingles. Her body was found at a separate home on North Plum Bay Parkway, the release states. Ferrin, 36, was also found dead in the home.
Authorities said in a warrant that they believe Mary Gingles, 34, ran into Ferrin’s home to seek refuge but was followed by her husband. The warrant said Ferrin was an “innocent and unsuspecting resident.”
According to the warrant, Nathan Gingles had his daughter as he chased and shot his wife. The girl told deputies that her father shot her mother “a hundred” times, it states.
Sheriff Tony said his office had received dozens of calls of service over a couple of years from the Gingles’ home. In some of the calls, Nathan Gingles reported his wife and in others she reported him, the sheriff said.
Online court records show that Mary Gingles sought a domestic violence injunction against her husband in February 2024. She filed for divorce that same month. She sought a second injunction in December, court records show.
At the news conference, the sheriff focused on two recent domestic violence calls: one in October and another in December when Mary Gingles told the responding deputy that she feared for her life.
“It’s clear that we probably could have done more in that element and that’s what we’re looking at,” he said about the October call. It’s unclear what prompted the call.
“These aren’t shortcomings of policies, procedures, training or equipment. From my assessment, this is really just a shortcoming of performance, whether it be complacency, not taking a greater interest and not doing the due diligence to make sure that they’re documenting everything in an accurate manner,” he continued.
In December, the responding deputy spoke with Mary Gingles for more than 30 minutes. He said the victim had told the deputy that she feared her husband would kill her. Based on evidence, deputies could have potentially pursued an arrest of the husband, Tony said.
“And that didn’t happen, we know that,” he said.
The sheriff also said that at one point, Nathan Gingles’ weapons had been seized but deputies were legally required to return them because of court proceedings.
The sheriff said the department “fell short on this one” and stated that “there will be people that will lose their job over this.” The office identified the deputies as Lieutenant Michael Paparella, Sergeants Travis Allen and Devoune Williams, and deputies Ilany Ceballos, Brittney King, Joseph Sasso, and Daniel Munoz.
Williams declined to comment on Friday and directed NBC News to his attorney. The other deputies could not be reached at phone numbers listed for them and the Broward Deputy Sheriffs Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nathan Gingles, 43, is currently being held on three counts of first-degree murder, a count of violating a domestic violence protection injunction, kidnapping, child abuse, interference with custody, burglary and child neglect. His attorney could not immediately be reached.
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